Rise of the Sith
by Nike's Zero
Summary: Nike will enter a race that will begin her destiny;Moria will SEE it all;Ben will live up to the Skywalker name;Sylor will prove himself;Dame will redeam his name;Anakin will find a new life;and the galaxy will see kids save their world.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars: The Rise of the Sith

Chapter 1

            This story takes place after The New Jedi Order.  It centers around the Solo's youngest child, Nike (who was born right after NJO), Ben Skywalker, Moria Skywalker, Lane and Launie Fel, Anakin Solo (brought back to life, explained in story), Sylor Hall, Damian Slayner, and Padme Solo (sorta).

            I do not own Star Wars, I wish that I did, but I don't, I am using George Lucas' characters without permission, please do not sue me, I'm but a poor high school student.

*******

            There were few things in the galaxy that overwhelmed fourteen year old Nike Solo.  Of course she hadn't seen all of what the galaxy had to offer, but she had seen a lot, but standing in the X-wing compound on Calrissian Space Station, looking out the large opening that was used as an entrance and exit for ships and into space, the youngest daughter of General Han Solo was once again overcome by it's beauty.

            Her entire life all Nike had wanted to do was have her own starship and be able to fly it wherever she wanted, and do whatever she pleased.  That dream had almost become a reality.  It _should _have become a reality.

            When she was three, Nike had asked her parents for an X-wing for her birthday.  They had of course said no, but that she would get one on her fourteenth birthday.  So Nike waited eleven years.  She loved flying, and her brother-in-law, Jagged Fel, often let her pilot his own X-wing.  Everyone said that Nike would be the best pilot in the galaxy.

            The problem was, that Nike was-in her own eyes-overprotected, down-graded, treated like a baby, and never aloud to do anything.  She was Force-blind, so there were no reasons for her to be able to do anything fun, like practice levitating things and beating up Ben Skywalker-her cousin-with a lightsaber.  Instead, Nike got lessons.  Math, Language, History, Physiology, philosophy, and etiquette.   Lessons in everything.  Well, everything except weaponry, piloting and mechanical skills, the only things that interested the girl.

            After Nike ran an A-wing into an asteroid-it had all been Sylor Hall's fault-and was under intensive care in a medical center for two weeks, she was no longer aloud to go near a starship.  She was nine then, and had since convinced her parents to let her pilot again.  So there was no reason for her not to have her X-wing.

            But there she was, fourteen and one day old, with no X-wing.  She was hanging her legs over the side of a stacked box of equipment, and had lay down with her hands on her stomach, staring at the ceiling.

            The day before had been her birthday, but had she gotten an X-wing?  No.  Had she gotten even the slightest "happy birthday?"  No.  Had she even stopped looking like a boy with long hair and gotten some curves?  No.

            And it sucked.  It wasn't just the X-wing, or the lack of puberty that was tearing her up inside.  It was the fact that her parents had forgotten her birthday.  You don't just forget people's birthdays!

            They never forgot Jaina's birthday, or Launie and Lane's, they never even forgot Jag's, and he was just their son-in-law.  The even remembered Lowbacca's and he wasn't even part of the family, well, blood related anyway.

            _It's because they didn't love me_, she told herself.  _Jaina and Jacen were twenty when they had me, they didn't want another kid, so they forget my birthday and pretend like it doesn't exist._

            "I'm sensing some anger on top of the equipment boxes, what would you saw, Sy?"

            "I'd have to agree with you Ben, there's some definite anger up there."

            "Go away," Nike said slowly so that they'd understand.

            "Come on Nike, I know parents suck, I've got two myself, but them forgetting the most important day of your life isn't so bad."  Nike rolled over and looked down and her cousin and his best friend.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"  She asked sarcastically.  Ben Skywalker looked up at her and sighed heavily.

"Just come down," he asked, his brown eyes pleading.

"No, go away," she rolled back over and looked at the ceiling.

"Well, then, fine," Ben said, his tone suggesting that he knew something she didn't.

                         "If she doesn't want to see the gift we got her then fine," Sylor said in the same tone.  Nike rolled her eyes and turned back over.

                         "What gift?"  Their faces instantly brightened.  For being two years older then her they were major dorks.

            "Come down and see," Ben said with a smile.  Nike rolled her eyes again and jumped down.  They smile and pulled her after them.

            "Now it's not the greatest thing in the world," Sylor told her.

            "But it does work," Ben added as they hurried into another half of the compound.

            "Well that's nice to know," she muttered sarcastically.  They stopped in front of a supply room.

            "Wait here," Ben ordered and ran inside.  Sylor crossed his arms and stood in front of the entranceway like some kind of guard.  Sylor was sixteen, with shaggy dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.  He was the biggest flirt anyone had ever known, and one of the best pilots too.  Nike was thankful that he would never flirt with her.  Probably because she looked like a boy.

            "Alright!"  Ben called from the other room.  Sylor disappeared into it and Nike followed him in.  All the lights were off and she couldn't hear anything.

            "SURPRISE!"  Suddenly the lights flashed on and Nike saw Ben, his little sister Moria, and Lane and Launie Fel all standing around an X-wing.  Her jaw dropped.

            "Do you like it?" Lane and Launie, her twin nieces from Jaina and Jag, asked at the same time.  Nike was unable to speak.  This had to be the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. 

            "Like it?"  Nike gasped, staring in awe.  "I…I _love _it!"  She cried and pulled Lane into a hug, and then grabbed Launie.  "You're the best, the _best!_"  Moria ran up and joined the group hug, while the boys watched from the sidelines, rolling their eyes.

            "And that's not even all of it!"  Launie cried, breaking out from the hug.  The little girl ran behind the X-wing to where a little astromech droid was.

            "Nike, meet Aroh-Deeoh," the droid came rolling up.  It was the same model as R2-D2, except he was orange colored.  He stopped in front of Nike and whistled.

            "Aroh-Deeoh…I'll call you Zero," she told the little droid.  He gave a high pitched whirling sound.  The children smiled.  "Thanks so much you guys," Nike said to them.  "This is the best birthday ever."

            "Well we're just sorry that your parents took off to Coruscant and forgot your birthday," Ben said, putting an arm around her.

            "Yeah well, they had important work to do," Nike shrugged.

            "That's no excuse!"  Sylor declared, and put his arm around her too.  Nike opened her mouth to reply when a voice sounded over the loud speaker.

            "Attention all squadrons, report to your ships immediately, enemy starships are moving in.  I repeat, all squadrons to your ships, the enemy is approaching."

            "I gotta go," Moria said, running off.

            "Do any of you know where Jacen is?"  Ben asked.

            "Probably at the _Trickster's Queen_ with Jaina," Nike said, and her cousin ran off.  "You two had better get to the command room."  She told Lane and Launie.  The two nodded and headed off.

            "And you need to find Uncle Luke, wherever he is," the girl told Sylor.

            "Nike, I'm sixteen, I can take care of myself."

            "Yeah, you've been saying that since you were four, and look where it's got you," she told him sarcastically.

            "Yeah well, you've been saying you'll be a pilot since you were three, and look where it's got you," he told her.  "We're gonna need all the help we can get," he turned and walked away.  Nike watched him go, then sighed and leaned against her X-wing.  Zero rolled up to her and started beeping.

            "Stop that, I know what I'm doing," she snapped, staying where she was.  Zero wouldn't let it go.  "My parents would lynch me if I went out on the battlefield."  Zero made a rude sound and ran into her leg.

            "Ow!  Stop that!  I can't do it, I'm not that great of a pilot and I'm not Force-sensitive, and I'm not in a squadron-"

            "All pilots report to your ships immediately, we are under attack!"  The voice over the loud speaker screamed.  Ignoring her droid's protests Nike left the supply room.  She headed into the docking area, which was quickly emptying.  She saw her sister's ship, the _Trickster's Queen_, take off and followed by the Twin Suns Squadron.  As fewer and fewer ships were left in the compound, Nike saw something that surprised her.  Ben, Sylor, and Moria all sat on the equipment boxes watching the ships leave.

            "Hey," Nike called trotting over.  They turned as one to look at her.  "What are you all doing here?"

            "We weren't aloud to go," Moria said, obviously disappointed.

            "We're their apprentices," Ben snapped, "We're Jedi!  We should have been aloud to go!"

            "Don't get angry Ben," Nike warned.  She wasn't a Jedi but she knew all about the "anger leads to the Dark Side" deal, and saw it her job to keep everyone in check.

            ""Ugh, it's probably just as well," Ben sighed.  "We would just get in the way anyway."

            "No you wouldn't!"  Nike cried.  "You're all great pilots, you could help!  You all have your own ships, so get in them and go!"

            "I will if you will," Ben said, Sylor smiled at the prospect of ignoring orders.

            "I don't know if this is such a good idea," Moria said.  She had always been the do-gooder of the group.

            "We'll all stay together," Ben said.

            "I don't know…"

            "Oh come on," Nike snapped, pulling her cousins and friend down.  "You won't be banished from Jedi School for disobeying once."

            "It isn't a Jedi School it's an apprenticeship!"  Moria declared, but her cousin had already run off to get her X-wing.

            "Hey you!"  Sylor called to some men from the crew.  "Help us get our droids in our ships quickly!"

            "Come on, Artoo!" Ben hollered for the droid.

            "Artoo!"  C3-P0 cried, hurrying after R2-D2.  "Where are you going?"

            "We're going to fight," Ben said as he prepared himself to get in his ship.  "Threepio, it's your job to make sure our parents don't find out what we're doing."

            "But sir!"  The droid cried.

            "Just don't tell anyone!" Ben snapped.  R2-D2 was loaded into his place on Ben's X-wing, and Ben climbed up the ladder into the cot pit.  Sylor was having his droid, R6-D8 loaded up, as was Moria, but he looked a lot calmer then her.

            "You okay Mo?" Ben called to his sister.  She looked up at him and her face told him everything.  She never did anything unless she knew exactly what would happen, she hated taking chances, and hated being risky.  She was an awesome pilot and extremely bossy when she wanted to be, but she liked to know the outcome of every situation before it happened, and an unknown fate made her edgy.

            _I will be_, she told him mentally, obviously not trusting her voice.  He gave her a smile and then looked over to where Nike's X-wing was being brought in.  The thing was an older model, had probably seen the first Death Star, and had many visible dents and scratches, but it had been the only thing that five kids on a space station could buy, so they had gotten it.

            "Come on you bums!"  Nike snapped at the crew who was staring at her bucket of bolts starfighter.  "They're gonna be coming back by the time I get in the cot pit at this rate!"  The crew headed over to get Zero into his place and Nike put on her helmet and gloves.  Ben noticed that she had attached her blaster to her side and had to smile, Nike never did anything without it.

            Once they were all in their cot pits Ben picked turned on his comlink.

            "Now, we'll have to turn on full frequency to communicate with the other pilots," he told them.  "So, to keep ourselves out of trouble, we need codenames."  The other three moaned over Ben's undying obsession with codenames.

            "You are _such_ a loser!"  Moria declared.

            "Oh, oh, I'm Hawk Leader!"  Nike cried.

            "Why Hawk Leader?"  Sylor asked.

            "Because, our little squadron is the New Hawks and I'm the leader."

            "Since when?"

            "Since I-"

            "Alright, we're missing the action!"  Moria reminded them.  "I'll be Hawk Two."

            "Hawk Three," Sylor said.

            "Now why do I have to be last?"

            "That's it I'm leaving," Nike snapped, whirled her X-wing around, and took off out of the compound.

            "Excuse me Hawk _Leader_, but you're leaving your squadron behind!" Ben snapped as he followed her out.

            "Alright, the battle should be on the other side of that moon…" Moria's voice trailed off as they looked at the sight before them.

            There was a huge sphere structure-some kind of space station-and hundreds if TIE fighters surrounding it.  From the Alliance there were starships-Nike could see the _Queen_ and the _Jade Shadow_-and of course X-wings, along with A-wings, B-wings, and other starfighters.

            "Alright New Hawks," Nike said, "let's show 'em what we're made of."  Nike shot forward into the battle, dodging enemy fire.  Sylor and Ben stayed on her wings, and Moria stayed behind her.

*~*~*~*

            Jaina Fel had been calling out orders when she had felt the familiar rift in the Force.  At first she pushed it to the back of her mind, thinking that it was only her imagination, that Moria would never go out into a battle that she had specifically told her not to.  Moria was smarter then that.

            But when Jaina felt Ben Skywalker and Sylor Hall-the two biggest blockheads in the galaxy-and then her sister's familiar essence, Jaina knew it was true.  Her apprentice had disobeyed her and ran off after an adventure.  This was completely against Moria's nature-to do anything troublesome-but Nike Solo could convince a Hutt to dress in a loincloth enter a pod race if she wanted, and with the combined powers of Ben and Sylor who knew whay they could do.  Although it probably helped that Moria had had a crush on Sylor since she was ten.

            Jaina was ready to scream her head off at them to get back to the space station and she would deal with them later, when she saw Nike dodge a blast, barrel-roll right under another TIE fighter, leaving space open for Sylor to blast the TIE that had attacked Nike.  Nike didn't waste any time and shot her ship upward, causing the TIE fighter to spin uncontrollably, and Ben blasted it.

            They were good.  They were in deep trouble and she was going to rip them apart piece by piece when she saw them, but there was no denying that they were good.

*~*~*~*~

            Lane starred at her nails, trying to figure out how dirt had gotten under there.  She didn't know very much about the war against the Sith, all she knew was that she was training to be a Jedi-something that she wasn't that interested in-and since her father wouldn't let her daughters near a battlefield, she was stuck in the command room reading charts while Launie complained about not being aloud to get involved.

            "I mean I am one of the best pilots on this hunk of junk space station but am I aloud to do anything to help the Alliance?  No.  Am I aloud go out and help the Alliance?  No.  But what can I do?  I can sit around and read stupid charts and do no help whatsoever!" Launie complained.  Lane rolled her eyes and went back to pushing her cuticles back with her comlink.

            "Shouldn't you two be watching the holonet?" C3-P0 asked as he came in.  "We wouldn't want something to happen while our backs are turned."

            "Oh yeah, because so much could-"  Launie started.

            "MOM!"  Lane screamed suddenly.

            "What?" Her sister cried, "Is she okay?"

            "Lane?"  Their mother's voice echoed through the control room.

            "Mom get out of there now!"  Lane cried.

            "What are you talking about, why?"

            "The shields are being activated!  Get out!  Get out now!" Her daughter screamed, panic rising in her voice.

            "All units retreat!" Jaina cried over the comlink.  "The shields are being activated, I repeat the shields are being activated!"

*~*~*~*~

            "Let's go!" Nike screamed.  Ben and Sylor continued to chase TIE fighters.

            "Ten seconds!" Moria cried.

            "_We need to go now!_" Nike screamed.  That seemed to get the boys' attention and they took off after her.  

            "We're not gonna make it!"  Moria cried.

            "Be optimistic!" Ben snapped.

            "She's right, we're not gonna make it," Nike said.

            "Not unless we jump to light speed," Sylor said.

            "We can't make a blind jump," Nike said.  She didn't know what to do.  She was always the one with the answers, but the one time she didn't have them it was going to get them all killed.

            "Three…" Moria counted, "Two…" Ben closed his eyes and let himself relax as the pull of the shield engulfed him.  "One."

            _Dad,_ Ben called out with the Force, _Dad you have to help us…please._

            "Here we go," Nike said as the group slowly drifted towards the space station, and death.

*~*~*~*~*~

            Jaina shoved through the pilots that were crowding the space station, searching wildly for the four young pilots.

            "Jaina!"  She heard a familiar voice call her name, but ignored it, continuing her search.  "Jaina!"  Jag grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.

            "Are you okay?"  He asked her worriedly.

            "Nike, and Moria…I have to-"

            "MOM!"

            "DAD!"  The Fels turned to see their twin daughters running up to them.  Launie was faster-of course, she was the most competitive thing Jaina had ever seen-and jumped into her father's arms.  Lane threw her arms around her mother.

            "We thought you were gonna die!" Lane cried.  She was by far much more emotional then her sister.

            "_I_ didn't," Launie said proudly.  Jag smiled at his daughter and then looked at Jaina and rolled his eyes.  She smiled too, holding Lane tightly.

            Her daughters looked exactly alike in everyway, except that each had their own personal "trademark."  They both had their father's black hair, but Launie had a small birthmark on her scalp, that caused a strip of her hair to be white.  Lane's hair was all black, but she had one brown eye, and one green eye.

            "Lane!  Launie!"  Mara Jade Skywalker called as she walked up.

            "Yes Aunt Mara?"  Lane asked.

            "She's our _great_ aunt," Launie informed her sister.

            "Just Aunt Mara will do," the woman said with a smile.  To ward off any further sibling rivalry she went right into what she had come over to say.

            "Alright you two, where are they?"

            "Who?" The twins asked in unison.

            "Don't play stupid, I want to know what my children are up to, and I want to know now," Mara said, crossing her arms with a smile on her face.

            "Um…" the girls looked at each other with puzzlement.

            "You mean they're not back yet?" Jaina asked with worry in her voice.

            "Back from what?" Mara asked, now worried because Jaina was.

            "I saw them…I saw them in the X-wings out in the fight…"

            "_What?_"  Mara cried.

            "I'm such an idiot!"  Jaina cried, slapping a hand to her head.  "I saw them and wanted to tell them to get out, but then…I didn't and then the shields went up and…they had to have gotten out, we would have known by now if they hadn't-"

            "General Fel," one of the control room technicians said as they ran up and saluted Jag.

            "What is it?"  Jag asked.

            "Four X-wings did not make it out of the shield zone in time, sir," the man told him.

            "Who were they?" Jag said, hardly able to keep the worry for the children out of his voice.

            "They were unidentified, but…" The man glanced uneasily at Mara, then continued, "Ben Skywalker's X-wing was missing, along with his father's, and Sylor Hall's.  The other X-wing was identified as an older model that was bought by Ben Skywalker earlier today."

            "That's Nike's ship," Launie piped in.

            "Nike's ship?"  Jaina asked.

            "Yeah, the one we bought for her because Grandma and Grandpa forgot her birthday," Lane added.

            "_What?_" Jaina cried.  "What are you talking about, what is going on?"

            "Grandpa told Nike that for her fourteenth he'd get her an X-wing," Lane explained.

            "But then he and Grandma had to go to Coruscant for that political crap-"

            "It's isn't crap Launie,' Lane snapped.

            "Whatever.  Anyway, today we all go together-"

            "That's us, Sy, Ben, and Moria."

            "And we bought Nike an X-wing and an astromech droid," Lane finished.

            "And now they're run off and gotten themselves hauled inside a Sith space station!"  Mara cried.  "We have to go after them, we have to get them out!"

            "Get who out?"  Luke Skywalker asked as he walked up behind Mara.

            "The kids," Mara said.  "They couldn't get out in time and the shields…" Mara's voice trailed off.  "There's nothing we can do…" She said after a moment.

*~*~*~*~*

            "Alright, here's the plan," Nike said, "when we get in there we…um…"

            "Oh yeah, great plan," Sylor snapped, rolling his eyes.

            "Well let's hear yours," Nike snapped back.

            "Hey, this wasn't my idea."

            "Yeah well you didn't have any objections."

            "Yeah Sylor."

            "Stay out of this Ben."

            "Hey, you were the one we all got stuck behind."

            "Will you all just shut up!"  Moria screamed.  "I have a plan.  We get in there, and we fire away, as soon as the way is clear we get out of the ships and…"

            "That plan sucks," Ben snapped.

            "Well let's hear yours Oh Lord of Good Plans," Nike snapped.

            "We are now entering Death," Sylor said as they passed through the entrance way into the space station.  "To your left you see…oh, an army of…well, droids with blasters, they look real nice wouldn't you say?  Heeelloooo!"

            "Sy stop waving at them," Nike snapped.

            "Hey just trying to make friends, maybe that way they won't kill us."

            They landed down of the floor of a large room with metal floors and walls.  All around them were some kind of battle druids, ones the children had never seen, all lined up in rows.  The droids looked a bit lit protocol droids, except they had much more mobile arms and legs, and their heads were square.  They all carried heavy blasters, and had utility belt on.  When the ships stopped, two droids headed towards each other the ships.  

            "Alright, I'm getting out of here," Nike said.  "We're going with Moria's plan, then I want you three to find the command room around here, I'll turn off the tractor beam."

            "Why do you get to-"

            "NOW!"  Nike began blasting away the droids that were coming at her, and then began to blast at the army.  The other three followed her lead.  Nike couldn't say she was surprised when the droids began shooting back.  Someone blasted some kind of tube or tank, and thick smoke began to cover the area.

            "We're not gonna be able to win," Sylor called.

            "I know," Nike said.  "We gotta get out of here right now!  Get out of your cot pits and do what I said!"

            "This is the worse plan you've ever had!"  Ben snapped.  "Even worse then the time we put the dress of Lowbacca when he was asleep!"

            "Well you can sit around and complain, I'm gone!"  Nike snapped.  She grabbed some kind of heavy tool that was under her seat and lodged it against the trigger on her X-wing so that it would keep blasting.  She jumped out of the cot pit and ran with all her life into the smoke, ducking under droids and scurrying out of the docking room.

*~*~*~*~*

            "I feel stupid," Moria informed her brother and friend.

            "Yeah well, join the crew," Ben muttered.  They were wearing some kind of all black suits that they had found in a supply room after they had escaped the droids.  Sylor was trying to find someplace in his clothes to hide his lightsaber.

            "Let's just find Nike and get out of here," he said.

            "And how exactly would we get out?"  Moria asked.

            "We can contact Dad," Ben said.

            "And get killed?"  Sylor asked.

            "He may have some mercy on us, the Sith defiantly will not," Ben said.

            "Yeah well, have fun finding a com-"  Sylor started, but was stopped by Moria slapping a hand over her mouth.  The three ducked behind a stack of metal boxes just as two young men entered the room.

            "I can't believe you got me out of meditation to come and hunt down a couple of pilots," one of them snapped as the two went through the shelves that lined the wall looking for something.

            "Hey, it wasn't my idea, dad told me too," the other one replied.  "I would rather just not bother with the Alliance."

            "See, that's the difference between you and me, Damian, you hide too much."

            "Ah, so not getting involved is suddenly hiding?"

            "Yes."

            "I just don't see the point.  Ah, here it is."

            "Let's go, this room smells bad."  And then the two left.  Ben looked over the boxes, and then signaled the coast was clear to the others, and they headed off, in their not-so-good disguises, and headed out.

*~*~*~*~*

            Nike crept along against the wall on a small ridge that was just big enough for her the stand on.  She was in some kind of round room that seemed bottomless with a huge sort of metal pillar in the middle that was the shield generator.  There were two doorways in the room, but a code was required to open the bridge, and so Nike was making her way across to the other side.

            She really didn't have a plan for getting the shield down, she was just winging this whole mission.  She had chosen to go alone because Moria liked things planned out perfectly before she did anything; Sylor would insist on being in charge and chopping up everything with his lightsaber; and Ben would do a bunch of unnecessary stunts just to prove he could and that he should have been aloud to play Luke Skywalker or Han Solo when they were little, and she should have been Chewbacca, not him.

            A strange noise startled her and she froze in her steps.  At first she thought she was imagining things, considering where she was, but then a young man entered the room, and he was in fact whistling.  He punched a code into the pad on the wall, and a bridge extended across to the shield generator.

            He walked across the bridge, continuing to whistle.  He took long, steady strides, although a bit too stiffly for Nike.  He was wearing a black suit that reminded her of something that Jag would wear, except this guy had a cape flowing behind him.  He had thick black hair that brushed over his ears.  His face hardly looked like the dark, stern look she expected from a Sith.

            To her surprise and horror though, he stopped, and turned to face her.

*~*~*~*~

            Damian Slayner had a feeling that someone might figure him out.  Deactivating the shield to your space station wasn't something that people took lightly.  If anyone found out that he had given the Galactic Alliance a chance to destroy the Sith then he had might as well kill himself because it would be better then what his father, Reth Slayner, leader of the Sith, would do to him.

            Now there were four pilots running around the space station and Damian thought it was actually kind of funny that four pilots had somehow gotten past an army of droids.  They were probably Jedi.

            Damian had never liked the Sith.  He disagreed with everything they stood for.  But even at seventeen he never had the courage to do anything about it until now.  Now that he had done this he planned on leaving the Sith and finding something better to do with his life.

            When he and his twin brother Luthor had been in the supply room, Damian had felt the presence of the three children who had been behind the boxes, and had hidden them from his brother.  He just hoped that they were somehow able to find a way out.

            Now, as he walked into the shield generator room, whistling some tune just because he was bored, he felt a strange presence.  Those who are Force-sensitive have an esteemed essence about them, but there are those who are Force-blind but have a strong essence about them, that are just brimming with life.  He felt that as he made his way across the bridge.

            So naturally he stopped and turned.  To his surprise it was a girl hardly fourteen at the most, and even more surprisingly was that she was walking on the thin ridge that was across the wall.  By her tenseness he could tell she was horrified, but her face was stern and she met his eyes.

            "Hello," he said after a moment.  She didn't answer, just kept her face the same.  "You know if you'd like to take the bridge across you can come down from there," again no answer, he sighed, then outstretched his hand and focused his mind.  The girl gasped as she was lifted into the air and floated over to the bridge he was on.  He set her down on her feet, and as soon as she got her footing she took a step back from him, against the generator.

            "You know you're in deep trouble if you get caught in here," he informed her, and she raised one of her brown eyebrows.

            "Isn't this deep trouble?" She asked.  Damian smiled, then put a hand on either side of her head, trapping her between his arms.

            "Only if you want in to be," he said, smiling evilly.  Her eyes got really wide for a moment, and he saw the deep brown that was around the edges, and the bright green that shot out from her pupils, and then she narrowed them.

            "Get off me you creep," she snapped and shoved him back.

            "That hurts!" Damian cried, putting a hand on his heart in mock pain.  She rolled her eyes and shoved past him.

            "I have to go," she snapped.

            "Wait one moment princess," Damian said, grabbing her arm and turning her towards him.  "If wouldn't be very smart of you to run off by yourself in enemy territory."

            "First off, I'm not a princess, secondly, I can take care of myself, thank you," she informed him and the tried to continue.

            "Look, I can help you," he told her.  "Just stick with me."

            "Do you think I'm an idiot?"  She snapped.  "You're a Sith, I'm part of the Alliance, we don't help each other."

            "First off, I'm _not_ a Sith, my name is Damian Slayner and I don't _like_ the Sith, secondly-"

            "Slayner!"  She cried.  "As in Reth Slayner?!  He has a son?"

            "Two sons actually, and we have a sister too but she's kind of crazy and got disowned from the family a few years ago so-"

            "You're the Sith Lord's _son_ and you're helping _me_?"

            "I know," he muttered, "I'm such a noble character, now can we-"

            "Noble?  More like suicidal."

            "Look, can we talk about this later, the longer we stick around here the more of a chance there is that someone will find me with you and kill me, okay."

            "You were sarcastic when you said you were noble?"

            "Aren't you the fast one.  Now, do you have a name?"

            "Nike."

            "Solo?"

            "How'd you know?"  She asked, thoroughly surprised that someone knew her name.  He ignored her and grabbed her arm.

            "We need to get out of here," he told her, and dragged her out of the room.

            "I said, how did you know my name?" She asked as she was pulled behind him.

            "Because when you were little we almost kidnapped you," he told her as he checked a corner to see if the coast was clear.

            "Why would you kidnap me?"

            "Because we thought that you could be a Sith.  But after we found out that you were Force-blind we decided that you couldn't do much harm."

            "Yeah well you guys were wrong," she said with a proud smile.  He looked at it and gave her a sarcastic look.

            "Yeah, we were, you ended up doing no harm," he said, and then pulled her down the hall.

            "What do you mean no harm!"  She snapped, but he ignored her and pulled the protesting girl along.

**********

            Please review, because if you don't review then I don't know if you're reading and if you're not reading what's the point of writing?  Thanks. 


	2. Chapter 2

Star Wars: The Rise of the Sith

Chapter 2

            Thanks for reviewing; I'm working on the grammar thing.

********

            Damian clapped a hand over Nike's mouth and pressed them up against the wall just as a group of droids came around the corner.  Luckily they passed by without them seeing, and the he dragged her around the corner.

            "You are going to pull my arm out of my socket!"  she snapped.

            "And that'll just break my heart," Damian muttered.  He stopped at a door and began punching in a code.

            "Where are we going?"  She asked.  "I need to find my friends and you're not helping you dolt."

            "You are this close to getting thrown out of this space station," he told her. "We're going to my room."

            "And why is that?"

            "Because," Damian said as the door opened, "I need somewhere to keep you while I go look for the others," he shoved her into the room.

            "WHAT?"  Nike ran towards the door but it shut on her  "Why that intolerable, scruffy…nerfherder!"  She screamed and began banging on the door.  It opened again and Damian grabbed her and pushed her backwards onto the bed and pinned her down.

            "Are you mental?"  He asked harshly.  All she could do was stare at the man who was on top of her.  "You can't go screaming or they'll know you're here and kill you."

            "Get off me!"  She snapped, recovering from her shock.

            "Yes your majesty, now stay here and shut up!"  Then he left again.  Nike sat up and then slammed her body back on the bed, then heaved a sigh.  This defiantly was not turning out as she had planned.

*~*~*~*

            "Ben!" Moria hissed.  "Sylor!"  Somehow they had gotten separated.  They had been hiding in a hall when three men, all dressed in black and carrying lightsabers, apparently Sith, had come around the corner.  The boys had jumped to one side, Moria to another.  She luckily had jumped into another room and shut the door.  A few minutes later she immerged and looked around for the boys.

            "Where could they be?"  She muttered to herself, and then headed off down the hallway to find them.  She felt very foolish walking through the hall with the cape swinging behind her, but straightened herself and tried to walk with as much forwardness as possible.  She wanted to fit in after all.

            "Hey you!"  Someone behind her snapped.  Moria froze and then turned slowly around.  It was a Twi'lek female, purple skinned with blood red eyes.  She was dressed all in black, with the cape, but had a golden patch on her shoulder, probably showing some kind of high rank.

            "Um…yes?"  Moria asked, trying to act as natural as possible.  The Twi'lek narrowed her eyes at Moria, and the girl realized that she probably expected some kind of formal address, so she did the first thing that popped into her head, and bowed to the woman, "yes ma'am?"

            "Are you one of the new recruits?"  She asked, looking the girl up and down, from the top of her curl red head, to her feet that were in too-big boots.

            "Yes ma'am," Moria said, unsure of what else to do.

            "Capes are given to second years," she said, "go put it back where you found it."

            "Yes ma'am," Moria said and bowed again as the woman strode off.  She gave a sigh of relief, took off the cape and dumped it in the next garbage shoot she got to.

            "Ow!" She heard a familiar voice say, and stopped. Listening closely.

            "Jeez Skywalker it was just a sheet," she heard Sylor say.

            "No it was a cape and it's heavy," Ben said back.  Moria walked over to the garbage shoot and looked down in it.

            "Just be quiet or someone will hear," Sylor said.

            "Someone did hear," Moria informed them.  Startled, they jumped back and she smiled, trying not to laugh.  "What are you two doing down there?"  She asked.

            "Hiding from a group of droids that were chasing us," Sylor told her simply.

            "Well get out, we have to get Nike and get out of here," she said.

            "I finally found you,"  Moria felt the hair on the back of her neck go up as someone behind her spoke.  She shot around to see a boy, probably Ben and Sylor's age, with black hair and stunning deep blue eyes.  He was leaning casually on the wall behind him with a crooked smile on his face.  She reached for her lightsaber, but he quickly grabbed her arm.

            "There's no need for violence," he told her.  "My name is Damian Slayner and I know where your loud mouthed friend is."

            "Nike?"

            "Yeah, her, now come on."

            "Wait!" Ben called.  "What's going on up there!"

            "Be quiet," Damian hissed, "do you want the whole station to know where you are?"

            "Who are you?" Sylor asked.

            "Just get up here and I'll explain everything."

*~*~*~*~

            "Fifty six bottles of beer on the wall, fifty six bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, fifty five bottle of bear on the wall.  Fifty five bot-"

            "You're only on fifty five?"  Nike turned over on the bed and glared and Damian, but then brightened when Moria, Ben, and Sylor stepped out from behind him.  Nike got up and ran to hug her friends.

            "What took you so long?" She cried, then instantly recoiled from Ben and Sylor, "and why do you smell like garbage?"

            "It's a long story," Ben said, "so how do we get out of here?"

            "I don't know, ask him," Nike nodded to Damian.

            "There's a secret passage from here to F compound," he said, "from there you can take one of the ships and get out of here.  I'll turn off the shield generator for you."

            "First off, I don't trust you," Nike snapped, shoving a finger in his face, "and secondly we need our droids."

            "Yeah," Ben said, "Dad would never speak to me again if I left Artoo behind, and who knows what Threepio would do."

            "I'll get your droids," Damian said, "just stay here."

            "Hey Dame," Ben said as Damian turned away.

            "Yeah?"

            "Is there any way we'll get our ships back?"

            "I wouldn't count on it," Damian said, and then he left.  Ben turned back around to see his cousin glaring at him with her arms crossed.

            "What?"  He asked.

            "_Dame?_"  Nike said the word as if it tasted bad.  "_Dame?_ I cannot believe you called him _Dame_."

            "Why?" Sylor asked.  "Ben shortens everyone's name…we all do actually."

            "No, we shorten or _friends'_ names," Nike said, "not the name of the Sith Lord's son."

            "Well it's not like he wanted to be stuck here, he wants to become a Jedi and do good," Ben said.

            "Oh yeah, and I suppose he told you that," she muttered.

            "No," Ben informed her, "I sensed it in him."

            "Oh," Nike muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.  "And your senses are _sooo_ accurate and all."

            "More accurate than-"

            "I really would rather not listen to your little argument about the Force right now," Moria told them.  Nike flopped back down on the bed, Ben and Moria sat in chairs, and Sylor spread himself out on the sofa, none of them speaking, and all of their thoughts taking them to far off places.

*~*~*~*~

            Damian made his way to the smoke filled A compound where the X-wings were waiting.  As he was leaving a group of battle droids were escorting four astromech droids out.

            "Hey you," Damian said, stopping to talk to the leader of the group.

            "Yes, your excellency?" the droid said in his robotic tone.  Damian rolled his eyes with the formality and went on.

            "Are those the droids from the Alliance pilots?"  He asked.

            "Yes, they are."  A little R2 unit beeped loudly.

            "Well I am to take them to Lord Reth," he said.

            "Are you sure, we were told to-"

            "Do you doubt my word?" Damian asked dangerously, and smiled when the droid backed up in fear.  Luthor would have chopped the thing to pieces at questioning him, but Damian just let them think he was as evil as his brother.

            "Oh, no your worship," the droid said, bowing, "here you are."  The group left, leaving Damian with the four droids.

            "Alright you four, let's get a move on," he said, and turned to leave.  The droids wouldn't move.  "Alright," he sighed, "now all of you, you can't run off with those bonds, and you can't just sit there forever, now come on or do I have to drag you."  The R2 unit made a few rude sounds.

            "Excuse me, but if you'd ever like to see Ben, or Luke or whoever again, I suggest you get to moving," Damian told the droid, then turned around and made his way back.  It beeped loudly, but followed, and the other three went on right behind it.

            A group of new recruits, probably about twelve at the oldest, walked by them and looked curiously at the droids.  Damian gave them his more superior-the-thou raise of the eyebrow and frown, and they quickly looked away.  He smiled with satisfaction, and continued on his way.  When they got back to his personal corridors the droids filed in, in a single line.

            "Artoo!" Ben cried, jumping up from his chair.  The droid whistled happily, thrilled at seeing familiar faces.

            "Ah, so the loud one's yours," Damian said, "I thought it's be Nike's."

            "Oh, har har, aren't you hilarious," Nike snapped.  The little orange droid rolled over to Nike a beeped loudly.  "Shut up Zero I didn't want to leave you."

            "We need to get out of here," Moria said, "now."

            "I agree," Damian said, "this way, please."  He led them into a back room and through a door, out onto a room that overlooked a small hanger.  There were a few starships in there, and no droids.

            "The F compound isn't guarded," Damian explained, "because all these ships don't work."

            "Um…so how are we going to get anywhere?" Sylor asked.

            "See that Y-wing?  Well it was made back when the Empire was around, it should get you to your space station," he said, "as long as you don't jump to light speed."

            "That's impossible," Nike snapped, "there aren't any weapons on that and no light speed, we'll be killed!"

            "Have some faith," Damian said, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

            Nike gave him a mean look and said, "Faith?  In you?  You have got to be kidding."

            "Nike doesn't have faith in anything," Ben said.

            "Shut up," Nike snapped, and punched him in the arm.

            "Alright," Damian said, "there's a comlink in the ship, once I deactivate the shield generator I'll contact you, and you get out of here."

            "Get it," Sylor nodded, and Damian left them.

            "I don't trust him," Nike said.

            "You don't trust anyone," Ben informed her, and jumped over the balcony to the ground below.  Sylor and Moria followed right after.  Nike sighed, and swung a leg over the side of the balcony, then both legs, then slowly slipped down until she finally had to drop to the ground.  The droids took the long way down a ramp.

            In the Y-wing, Nike took her place in the pilot's seat, with Ben beside her as the copilot.  Sylor and Moria sat in the seats behind them.  The droids rolled on and Ben shut the door.

            "Alright," Ben said, "let's get this hunk of junk moving."

            Nike picked up the comlink, "Hey Sith Jr."

            "Yes, your worship."

            "Where are you?"

            "Entering the shield generator room."

            "Well step it up a notch, I wanna get out of here," she said.

            "Stepping," he replied.  "Alright, I'm typing in the coordinates."

            "Coordinates?"  Nike asked.  "The shield generator has coordinates?"

            "Yeah," Damian shrugged, "as if someone would be stupid enough to sneak around on the siding of the wall trying to jump to the shield generator to turn it off," Nike frowned.  "No, wait, that already happened didn't it?"

            "I was not going to jump to the shield generator," she informed him bitterly.  She heard him give a short laugh.

            "Alright, you guys better get ready, the shields are coming down in five, four…"  Nike fired the engines.  "Two, one, and they are down!"

            "Let's go!"  Nike declared, and shot the old ship out of the space station.

            "Thanks, Dame," Ben said.

            "No problem," Damian said.  Nike moved the ship as fast as it would go, trying to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible.  "Better move fast," Damian told her, "or they'll catch you."

            "Thanks for the tip," she muttered sarcastically.

            "Uh-oh," Damian said.

            "What?"  Ben asked.

            "They're announcing your departure, the droids are getting in their TIEs, so I'd suggest getting out of there now."

            "We've got six on our tail!" Ben cried, looking at the cockpit simulator.

            "Go faster!" Damian cried.

            "This isn't the _Millennium Falcon_ Damian!"  Nike snapped.  "This is as fast as it goes without light speed!"

            "What's the _Millennium Falcon_?"  Nike ignored him and made a sharp port turn around one of the fighters.  The fighter chased after her, and slipped under another fighter, causing the two to crash into one another.

            "Well that was good, there's only four left," Sylor commented.

            "Not for long, look," Moria pointed to where many more fighters were filling out of the space station.  "There's gotta be at least twenty."

            "Just get out of the shield zone!"  Damian snapped.

            "We need to get out of here," Moria cried.

            "We need help," Nike said through her teeth.

            _Help_, Ben called out with the Force, _Dad, Mom, Jacen…anyone…help…hear me please._

*~*~*~*~

            "They had to have some kind of communicator on them," Luke reasoned as he walked through the halls of Calrissian Space Station with Mara, Jaina, Jag and Threepio, with Launie and Lane following.

            "If they did then it would have been confiscated by the Sith," Mara replied.

            "Not if they somehow got passed the Sith," Luke told her.

            "Possible, but not likely," she told her husband.

            "Actually," Threepio said, "Master Luke was hardly older than Masters Ben and Sylor when he battled the Empire."

            "That's true," Luke said, "but it's still no reason for us not to go out there and get them."

            "But if they're still in the New Death Star," Jaina said, "then there's no way we could get them.  If they somehow got the shields down and somehow-"  She stopped and looked back at uncle, who had stopped and was looking searchingly into the air.

            "Uncle Luke?"  She asked.

            "Ben," Luke said, at little more then a whisper.  "Ben…he's…he's trying to reach me."

            _Dad, please hear me, we need your help_, Ben was saying.  Luke searched for his son with his mind, trying to feel Ben's presence, and then, without a word to his confused companions, he took off down the hall.

            "Luke!"  He heard Mara call, but he kept running towards the command room.

            "I believe Master Luke has lost his mind," Threepio observed, but the humans ran after him, and so the droid reluctantly followed.

            "Luke what is it?"  Mara asked as they entered the command room.

            "I know where Ben is," he said as he began punching coordinates and figures into the holonet and datapad.

            "You do?" Mara, Jaina, and Jag all said in unison.

            "Yes, he's calling me with the Force," Luke explained, "if you listen you may hear him too, well, Mara and Jaina at least."

            "And us," the twins muttered.

            "I just need to find their signal," Luke finished.  He rolled a knob around, and the voices from different comlink signals filled the room.  "Just listen for one of their voices."  They all toned in carefully, trying to listen for a familiar voice, and then it came.

            "Calrissian Space Station-"

            "That's them!"  Mara, Jaina and the twins all cried together.  Luke rolled back to them.

            "-Moria Skywalker, we need your help, we are under attack-OW!  NIKE WATCH IT!  Jeez…I repeat, this is Moria Skywalker, Calrissian Space Station, please come in."

            "Moria!"  Luke cried, trying to get his daughter's attention.

            "This is Moria Skywalker," the girl repeated, "Calrissian Space Station please come in."

            "MORIA!" Luke yelled again.

            "This is-Nike, I don't think it's working, the signal on this bucket of bolts can't be that great, we'll never be able to contact them."

            "Moria, you dolt," Mara declared, "you _are_ contacting us!"

            "…Mom?"  Moria sounded surprised.

            "Moria!" Mara called, not sure if her daughter could still hear her or not.

            "Mom!  Mom it's you!  HAHA!  Ben I got her!" Moria declared happily.

            "Will you stop screaming?"  they heard Nike snap, "I'm trying to concentrate."

            "Are you all together?" Mara asked.

            "Yes, we're in some jacked up Y-wing with no weapons and no light speed out in the middle of nowhere with TIE fighters halfway up our butts," Moria cried.

            "We are not in the middle of nowhere, I know _exactly_ where we are," Nike snapped.

            "Yeah," Sylor muttered, "about two nanoseconds from death."

            "We need backup," Moria said, "they have us outnumbered and they have lasers."

            "Can you give us some coordinates?" Luke asked.

            "Um…no," Ben said, "this stupid ship has nothing on it that works"

            "We're entering the asteroid field," Nike said.

            "What?!" Ben cried.  "Are you crazy?"

            "It's safer in there then it is out here," Nike snapped.

            "We're gonna die!"  Sylor moaned.

            "Stay in the field," Luke said, "hide near one of the bigger asteroids until we get there."

            "Got it," Nike said.

            "You're all insane," Moria wailed.

            "Watch out!"  Ben cried.

            "I was twenty meters away from it, jumpy," Nike said exasperatedly.

            "They're still following!" Moria cried.

            "Yeah, but now we at least have a chance," Nike reasoned, "as long as help gets here soon."

            "We're on our way," Jaina said.

            "I'll stay here an keep talking to them," Mara offered, "the rest of you go."

            "Actually," Jaina said, "I think I should stay here, the rest of you go."  Mara looked at her curiously.

            "Are you sure?"  She asked.

            "Of course I'm sure," Jaina said, "now get out there and get my sister back so I can clobber her on the head."

            "We'll be back soon," Jag said, and gave his wife's hand a squeeze, and then the three pilots ran out.  Launie tried to follow.

            "Hold it you," Jaina said.  Her daughter sighed and turned back around. "Where do you think you're going?"

            "Um…"

            "Exactly what I thought, get back in here and you can help me," Jaina told her.

            "But _Moooom_," Launie whined, "I'm nine and a half years old, that's almost ten, which is almost a teenager, which is practically twenty, twenty year olds are aloud to be in a squadron."  Jaina could only laugh at her daughters reasoning.

            "Well I'm so glad you guys are having so much fun while we're dying," Sylor snapped.

            "Don't worry, Luke, Mara, and Jag are on their way," Jaina reassured them.

            "Who's worried?"  She heard Nike mutter.

*~*~*~*

            Leia Organa Solo settled into the seat next to her husband's on the _Millennium Falcon_ and sighed exasperatedly.

            "You okay?"  Han Solo, her husband, asked her.

            "I just don't think I can take much more of this," she sighed.  "I would like to be able to see one of my children grow up, but no, it's one thing after another forever, I just want a few years of peace in the galaxy."

            "We all do," Han said with a crooked smile.  She smiled weakly back at him and he kissed her lightly.

            "Well at this point, even I'm beginning to hate politics," Leia sighed, "so I don't know how you're feeling."  Han laughed lightly.

            "I'm just glad your meeting with the senators was short so we can get back to the space station," Han said, "I don't feel like I'm doing anything helpful in Coruscant when the war is going on other places." 

            "I understand completely," she said, "and I hate leaving Nike with Luke and Mara all the time."

            "Yeah," Han said, "I doubt the gray hairs Luke is getting are from any of _his_ children."  Leia laughed and shook her head.  Nike was a handful, there was no denying that, she just hoped that her daughter hadn't caused too much trouble for everyone at the space station.

*~*~*~*~

            "Those kids are causing us a lot of trouble," Luke said as he, Mara, Jag, and a small group of X-wings came out of light speed and came upon the asteroid belt.

            "Yeah well," Mara said from her ship, the _Jade Shadow_, "we can deal with that later, for now let's just find them."

            "Nike," Jag said on the comlink, "where are you?"

            "In the asteroid field," she stated dryly.

            "More specific."

            "Well, if you can see the TIE bombers, then you're pretty close to us," she told him.

            "I don't see anything except asteroids," Jag remarked.

            "Dad, can you feel for us?"  Ben asked, and Luke could practically see Nike rolling her eyes by the way she sighed at the statement.

            "I'm sick of this," Nike snapped, "I don't like hiding, can't we just-"

            "No," Mara said sternly, "you are going to stay on that rock until we get there, unless of course you would like me to contact your parents and get their opinion on the situation."  Nike shrunk down in her seat, thinking about how badly her parents would kill her when they found out about what she had done.

            "Is there anyway we can keep this entire day off the Leia/Han radar?" Nike asked.

            "Heck no!" Ben cried.  "If I get in trouble, so does she!"

            "Sorry kid," Luke said, "besides, I doubt that they would fall for 'Nike didn't do anything while you were gone'."

            "This sucks," Nike muttered.  A TIE bomber dropped a blast right over the cave that they were hiding in, and caused their ship to rock and them to fall out of their chairs.

            "Just hang on," Luke said, "we'll be there shortly."

            "There!"  Jag said when he saw the TIE fighters and bombers not so far away.  "Starboard side, towards that big asteroid."

            "I see them," Luke said, "everyone, full attack."

*~*~*~*~

            Even with all the explosions and yelling and commands going on Nike felt as if she was alone on the quietest, most decollate planet in the galaxy.  She knew what was going to happen.  Her parents would come back, learn of what she had done, and she would be shipped to boarding school on Coruscant with Threepio.

            Boarding school.  An _all girl_ boarding school that was on Coruscant for the daughters of wealthy families.  When she was twelve, after she had stolen the _Falcon_ and had tried to fly through the streets of Coruscant at light speed (bad idea), her parents had basically told her that if she ever did anything like that again she would go to boarding school and learn etiquette until she was eighteen.

            This was hardly appealing to the girl.

            Finally, all the noise stopped, and Mara called to them on the comlink.

            "It's all clear," she said, "now get up here so I can see your faces when I ground you."  The children moaned, but Nike turned the ship out of the cave and into the air, where she saw the ships waiting.

            "That's the ship you're riding in?"  Jag asked.  "I'm surprised it made it out of the space station."

            "Shut up," Nike snapped.

            "Board onto the _Shadow_," Luke ordered, and Nike did as told.

            "Now that there's no chance that we could kill ourselves," Ben said, "they're not going to be nice."

            "I'm aware," Sylor said.

            "Hey kids," Jag said, hardly able to keep the humor from his voice, "good luck."

            "Gee, thanks," Ben muttered.  When they boarded the _Shadow_, the kids took their time getting to the cockpit, where Mara was.  When the ships were out of the asteroid field, they finally entered the cockpit timidly.

            "All of you sit," Mara ordered sternly, her back turned to them.  They obeyed immediately, sitting on the first things they reached, whether a chair or the floor and quietly awaited their doom.

*~*~*~*~

            "Calrissian Space Station, this is Han Solo, requesting opening of the Main Hull," Han said over the comlink.

            "Dad!" Jacen's happy voice answered.

            "Jacen?"  Han said, surprised, "I thought you were in the Outer Rim with Danni."

            "No, we came back here," Jacen answered, "we wanted to help out."

            "Where's Padme?"  Leia asked.

            "She's here too," Jacen said, "she wanted to see her grandparents."

            "Well how sweet," Han said, "the whole family came out into the war zone to see us."

            "Well, that wasn't the only reason, there's a lot more," he said, "but I'll explain all that with you when Luke, Mara, and Jag get back."

            "Where are they?"  Leia asked.

            "I'll let Nike explain."

            "Uh-oh," Han said, and Jacen laughed.

            "Well, the Hull's open and the twins want to see you, so hurry up," Jacen said.

            "Sure thing, see you soon," Han replied, then sighed.

            "I wonder what she did this time," Leia said.

            "I just hope it's not bad enough that we have to send her to boarding school," Han said.

            "You think she'll ever forgive us if we do?"  Leia asked.

            "She may be over it by the time we're dead," Han replied.

*~*~*~*

            When they landed on the space station, Mara turned to the children for the first time.  They all saw the murderous look in her eyes, and sunk down.

            "Get to the command room and wait for me and your father there," she told them sternly.  They all nodded and ran off.  In the command room they sat side by side in chairs, awaiting their punishment.

*~*~*~*~

            "Leia," Luke greeted his sister, "it's so nice to see you, and so soon."  She smiled and hugged him.  Mara, Luke, Jaina, Jag, the twins, Jacen, Danni and Padme all met them in the main compound.

            "Well the meeting was short," she said.

            "And successful?"  He asked hopefully.

            "Yes actually," she said, "everyone agreed that we need to take full action against the Sith."

            "Well that's good," Luke said.

            "We can talk about this later," Han interrupted, "I want to know what my daughter did."

            "It wasn't just your daughter," Luke said, "but mine too, and my son, and my apprentice."

            "Ah, the blockhead four," Leia said, "So what did they do?"  Han and Leia listened as Luke explained to them what the kids had been up to, with Launie giving her little tidbits along the way.

            "And now their in the command room awaiting their punishment," Luke said.

            "Does this mean that Nike has to go to the boarding school?"  Launie asked.  Leia and Han exchanged glances and sighed.

            "We'll decide that in a minute," Han said, "first I think we need to have a long talk with her."

            "I think we'll go back to our room," Danni said, taking Padme's hand.

            "But Mommy!"  The little girl cried, "I want to stay with Daddy!"

            "Not now, you'll see him later," she said, then picked up her daughter and carried her away.

            "Well," Jaina said, "since Jacen's sticking around to beat down on his apprentice, I guess I should too."

            "Can we come?" Launie asked.

            "I don't want to go!" Lane cried.

            "No you can't," Jag said, "you're going to come with me and help me with the _Queen_."  Launie smiled and followed her dad, but Lane hesitated for a moment.

            "Come on Lane!"  Launie called.  Lane looked at her sister, and then at her grandparents, who were watching her curiously.

            _Should we tell them about forgetting Nike's Birthday?_ She asked her sister.

            _No,_ Launie answered, _We'll let Nike do it, it's her business anyway._

            _I just feel bad that she's gonna get in trouble when she feels so rotten,_ Lane said.  _I just wish that they had remembered._

_            They're grown ups, Lane, we can't expect too much._

_            I guess you're right._

            "Alright you two," Jaina said, "you can have your private conversations later."

            "Yes ma'am," they said together, and then turned to leave.  Before they left though, Lane turned back to her grandfather and narrowed her eyes at him.  Han looked confused and taken aback, but Lane just gave him a rude, disgusted look.

            "Lane!"  Jaina gasped, thoroughly surprised by her daughter.  That was something she wouldn't have even expected Launie to do.  But her daughter ignored her, held her chin high, and marched after her sister.

            "What's with her?"  Han asked.

            "Beats me," Jaina replied, "but it looks like Jag's taking care of her disrespectfulness."

            "OW!"  Lane cried.  "DAD!  OW!"

            "Anyway," Mara said, "I've been waiting all day to beat down on my children and you all are holding me up."

            "Let's get this over with," Leia sighed.  The group made their way towards the command room.

*~*~*~*~

            Nike watched as her three companions shifted uneasily and twiddled their thumbs.  She was very happy that her parents were gone, at least her punishment would be postponed until later.  That thought though, was diminished as soon as Han and Leia were the first people to walk through the door.  She felt her stomach hit her feet.

            Mara, Luke, Jaina, Jacen, Han and Leia all stood there, looking at the four children.  Han crossed his arms and glared at his daughter.  She looked sheepishly at the ground.

            "I want to know," Leia said, "whose idea this was."  All three of them turned their heads to the floor, and tried to give glances to each other, trying to figure out what to say.

            "Nike?"  Leia asked, trying to get an answer.

            "Ben?"  Mara said, "Sylor?" Neither boys answered.  "Ah, Moria."  The girl tensed, and held her face to the floor.  "Look at me," Mara ordered, and slowly Moria raised her head to look into her mother's eyes, "Moria, I want to know whose idea it was to go to that space station, and I want to know now."

            "Um…it was…" Moria stammered.  "Um…it was my idea."  Han snorted and rolled her eyes.

            "If this was her idea then I'm Darth Vader," he snapped.  "I know exactly whose idea this was-" Nike held up her head to meet her father's gaze, "-and she can go ahead and pack her bags because she's taking the next ship to Coruscant."

            "WHAT?!" Nike cried, standing up.  "That is completely unfair!  You can't send me to that stupid boarding school!"

            "We told you that if you messed up again then you were going to Coruscant," Han told her, "and you messed up, you messed up big time, and now you're going to pay for it."

            "Pay for what?" Nike cried.  "Standing up for what I believe in?  Is that such a crime?"

            "I will not have this conversation with you," Han said.

            "Why not?" She asked.

            "Because, I said something and what I say is final."

            "Why?"  Nike cried.  "Why can't what I say be final?"

            "Because you're just a kid and I am your parent and I know what's best for you!"  Han told her.  Nike rolled her eyes.  "And so you're going to that boarding school until you're eighteen, so go get packed for the next five years of your life!"

            "And going to boarding school is good for me?"  She cried.

            "If it'll keep you out of trouble, then yeah, it is!"  Han yelled.  "But then I also know you happen to like to get in trouble anywhere you go!"

            "You don't know _anything_ about me!" Nike screamed.

            "_Don't use that tone with me!"_  Han yelled back in extreme fury.

            _"What tone?!"_  Nike screamed back.  _"You just want to send me away so that I won't be in your way!  It's not fair!"_

            "Nike," Leia said, trying to be the voice of reason in her family, "we aren't sending you away, we're just putting you where you'll be safe.  We're doing this because we love you."  Nike's fists were clinched and her whole body was tense.  Everyone else in the room had taken a step back from the screaming Solos.  

            "Well I hate you," Nike said at barely a whisper through gritted teeth.  This took both Han and Leia a moment to register, neither of them having had any of their children say they hate them before.  Nike stormed out of the room, and everyone stepped out of her way.  She stopped at the doorway and turned to her parents.

            "Oh yeah, and by the way, it's four years," Nike snapped.

            "What?" Han asked.

            "It's four years until I'm eighteen, not five," she said, "you see, it was my birthday two days ago," her parents faces fell with sudden remembrance.  "Anyway, I don't want to hold up your lives anymore."  And then she left.  Sylor, Ben and Moria all sunk in their seats.

            "Now you three," Mara said, "have yet to be punished."

            "Um, since it wasn't our idea can we just not get in trouble?" Sylor asked.

            "Do I really need to answer that?"  Mara asked.

            "Probably not."

            "You're going to Coruscant," Luke said, surprising everyone.

            "_What?_"  Ben cried.

            "You heard me," Luke said, "you were just as in the wrong as Nike was, and you will be punished as much as she was, although it should be more because you are training to become Jedi."

            "But Corusant?"  Ben cried.  "We need to stay here!  We can help!  We-"

            "Like you helped today?"  Luke asked.  "Not only did you waste valuable time, with your recklessness you put your sister in danger."  That stung.  Everyone knew how protective of Moria Ben was, and saying something like that had to hurt.  Ben clinched his fists and looked at the floor, trying to control his anger.  Sylor looked at his feet, ashamed of himself, and Moria was on the verge of tears.

            "Go pack," Luke sighed, and Ben instantly got up and left the room, Sylor at a more hesitant pace.  Moria got up and began to leave, but stopped in front of her parents.

            "I'm sorry," she said meekly.

            "It's okay," Mara sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "it wasn't your fault."  Moria turned to her Jedi Master.

            "Mistress Jaina," she said, "I'm sorry that I screwed up."

            "We learn from our mistakes," Jaina told her, "that's how we grow."  Moria nodded and gave a small bow, then left.  But she wasn't thinking about mistakes or leaving, she was thinking that for once she wished it had been her fault.

*~*~*~*~

            Nike, Ben, Sylor and Moria stood side by side at the space port with their parents.  It was the day that they were to leave to Coruscant.

            "Be careful," Mara told them, "and listen to what Threepio tells you."

            "Yes ma'am," the children said.

            "Finally!"  C-3P0 declared, "I am in charge!"

            "Power hungry, much?"  Nike asked.  Zero, who was beside her, whirled in agreement.

            Mara and Luke hugged their children goodbye, and Han and Leia looked at theirs.

            "You got everything, kid?"  Han asked with a weak smile.

            "Yeah," Nike said, taking a step away from them, showing that she was nowhere near forgiving them.

            "Well…" Han sighed, it hurt him a lot that her had to send Nike away, he just wished that she could see that, "the ship for Coruscant is all the way down the hall to the right, in the last terminal."

            "Got it," Nike said shortly, then threw one bag over her shoulder and grabbed the handle of the other one.  "Alright, let's get this show on the road," she called as she walked off.

            "Bye," Moria said, and followed her counterparts.

            "Oh dear me!"  C-3P0 cried, "Wait for me!"  They all walked on without saying anything, until Moria suddenly burst in front of the group.

            "Alright, we're out of sight!"  She said, poking her head around Nike to make sure.

            "What?"  Nike asked.  "What are you talking about?"

            "I'm talking about not going to Coruscant!"  Moria told them.

            "What?"  C-3P0 and the humans cried together.

            "There's a cargo ship leaving for Tatooine in ten minutes that we can catch," she explained.

            "Tatooine?"  Nike asked.

            "What's there?"  Ben said.

            "Goodness gracious no!"  The droid cried.  "You stop this nonsense at once!"

            "Yes!"  Moria said excitedly, "if we go to Coruscant then we're out of the picture for good!  But I have this feeling!  Tatooine is where we need to be!"  The four humans looked between each other as C-3P0 objected loudly.

            "I think we should do it," Sylor said.

            "I'm in," Ben agreed.

            "Let's go," Nike said with a smile, "good job Skywalker, didn't think you had it in you."

            "Yeah well, you know," Moria shrugged.

            "That is it! I am putting my foot down!  I refuse to be apart of this-"  Ben switched the droid off.

            "Thank you," Nike said relived.

            "Let's go then," Ben said.  Sylor picked up C-3P0, and Ben grabbed his bags, and the group headed off to the Tatooine ship, and their destiny.

********

            Please review, they're so encouraging (well, if they're good reviews at least).


	3. Chapter 3

Star Wars: Rise of the Sith

Chapter 3

            There's something on the review thing that says you have to be signed on to review my story, if anyone knows how to change it I would me most obliged.  

********

            "We're here," Moria said in a sing-songy voice, and shook her friends awake.  Nike sat up and rubbed her eyes.

            "It's about time," she said as Ben yawned loudly and Sylor stretched, taking up a lot of space.

            "It _is_ about time!"  C-3P0 said, "As soon as we get off of this retched ship we will contact your parents immediately."

            "No," Nike said, "we won't."

            "Yes we will!" The droid cried, "I was placed in charge and you all are to listen to me!"

            "Unless you would like to become property of a Hutt," Ben said, "I suggest you shut up.  Now let's go."  The four humans and Zero headed out of the cargo ship.

            "Dear me," C-3P0 gasped, and hurried after them.

            They walked out of the spaceport, and into what seemed to be a whole new world.  Everything seemed to be the same color, a light, dry brown, all sort of species filled the streets-humans being the minority by far-and small creatures scurried about, trying not to be stepped on by larger creatures.  The group continued forward, passing many of the small buildings that were apparently shops.

            "We're gonna need money," Nike said all of a sudden, "and I don't have any."  She stopped and looked at the other three.

            "Um…" Sylor said.

            "This wasn't my idea," Ben said, holding up his hands.  They all looked at Moria.

            "It was a spur of the moment idea!"  She cried.  "I didn't even think about money."  Ben and Nike moaned.

            "Come on guys," Sylor said, putting an arm around Moria, "This is Mo's first rebellious idea, she doesn't know all the rules that go along with it."

            "I guess," Nike said, "this just means we'll have to get jobs."

            "If you all had only listened to me they we would not be in this predicament," C-3P0 said.

            "We can sell Threepio," Ben suggested.

            "Good heavens!"  The droid cried.

            "Naw," Nike said, "he's not worth that much."

            "That's right, I'm not worth-WAIT ONE MOMENT!"  The droid declared.  The humans rolled their eyes and walked off as Threepio followed loudly.  Nike led the way into one of the shops.  It was cluttered with junk and pieces of speeders, starships and droids.

            "Hello?" Nike called, hoping that there was someone there.

            "Hold on!"  A rough voice called.  A moment later a fat Besalisk came walking slowly into the room.  "Now, what can I do you for?"  The creature asked.

            "We were just wondering if you were hiring," Nike said.

            "Well that depends," he said, "on how good you are at fixin' things."

            "Well," Ben said, "if there's one thing we're good at, then that's it!"  Nike turned and looked at him like he was crazy.  She was just like her father when it came to fixing things, all curses and kicking, but at least good at it.  Ben didn't know the difference between a wrench and a motor.  Moria knew even less.  Sylor on the other hand could give a hammer a power source and make it fly if he wanted to, being by far the most talented with the building skills.

            "Well, I am short on droids this season," the Besalisk mused, "I could use some more help."  He inspected the children, his gaze stopping on their belts where their lightsabers hung, an Nike's blaster.  "Jedi?"  He asked them.

            "What makes you say that?"  Ben asked.

            "That's a Jedi's weapon is it not?"

            "Oh, these old things," Moria shrugged, "found them."

            "You found three lightsabers just sitting around?"  He asked, not believing them.

            "Yup," Sylor said casually.  The creature looked at them uncertainly for a moment.

            "You got names or what?"  He finally asked.

            "I'm Sylor Hall," Sylor said, "and this is my friend Ben Skywalker, his sister Moria, and his cousin Nike Solo."

            "Well, it's nice to meet you all," the Besalisk said, "I'm Nord Clemrin."  Since he had four arms, we was able to shake all the children's' hands at the same time, which Nike found a bit disturbing.

            "So where are you all staying?"  Nord asked.

            "Um…" The children looked between each other, trying to find an answer.

            "If you work for me," Nord told them, "then you can stay in the rooms upstairs and work off pay on 'em."

            "That sounds great," Nike said.

            "This way then," Nord said.  Nike noticed that he swayed from side to side when he walked, the way larger people do.  She also noticed that his butt crack was showing, which was most unpleasant.

            "Alright," he said, stopping at the top of the stairs to look at them, "I have a few rules.  You get up at sunrise everyday," Sylor tried to turn to leave, but Ben stopped him, "you do all your chores, don't worry you'll get paid.  No loud noises after hours.  You steal anything from me, just know that I'm in good with the Hutts, and lastly, boys stay in the boys room, girls in the girls, romance on your our time in your own house."  Moria blushed deeply at this, and tried to hide her face behind Threepio.

            "I have another worker here too," Nord told them, "he's of a strange sort so I wouldn't suggest messing with him."

            "Got it," Sylor said.  Nord nodded and led them down a very small, dusty hall that had three doors, one at the end of the hall, and two that were on either side of the hallway.  The hall had a dusty floor, and even though it was inside, it looked as if it would fit just as well outside, and was hardly wide enough for Nord to fit down.

            "This is the girls' room, this is the boys' room, the room at the end in the 'fresher and pot," Nord explained.  It took Moria a moment to get what 'pot' meant.

            "Okay," Nike said, and opened the door slowly.  Inside there were three bed, a window, and some empty shelves.  Decided that it was safe to enter, she walked in a dropped her stuff by one of the beds.  Moria followed her in and shut to door.

            "This is really weird," the younger girl said, her green eyes scanning the room as she twirled a curl of her red hair around her finger.

            "Yeah…" Nike was quiet for a moment, and then suddenly took for the door.

            "Where are you going?"  Moria asked.    

            "Downstairs," the girl replied, "I want to look around this place a bit."

            "Well wait for me," Moria got up and followed her cousin out.  Downstairs was practically an exaggeration, seeing how there were only about five steps from the rooms to the store.

            They took their own personal tour of the store.  The front of the store had a bar-like table with seats along it for costumers to sit in.  There were piles of parts on the shelves behind the table, and the rest of the room was filled with stacks of different parts.  There was a back lot full of the bigger parts and a few banged up ships-or what was left of them at least.  When they were done looking around, the girls went back into the front room, where Nord, the boys, and the droids were.

            "Nike, Moria," Nord said, "you two are going to organize behind the counter.  The boys are working on the pod in the back."

            "Pod?"  Nike asked.

            "Yeah, pod racer," Nord said, but saw that the children still didn't know what he was talking about, "…for pod racing?  You all really aren't from around here are you?"

            "No," Nike said.

            "Well, it's real big 'round here, all the best pilots in the area race in 'em, and everyone else gambles on them," the alien explained, "they're real fast, and very dangous." Nike took note that he left out the 'er' in dangerous.

            "Can I do it?"  Nike piped in.  Nord looked at her and laughed, causing the girl to frown deeply.

            "First off, there hasn't been a human pod racer in over fifty years, and secondly, you have to be an A-class pilot to even control a pod, much less race one," Nord laughed.

            "Well then," Nike snapped, "it's a good thing I'm an A-class pilot."

            "Sure you are kid," Nord said, shaking his head, "you just get to cleaning, Dame will be here soon with dinner."

            "Dame?"  The four children asked together.

            "Someone call?"  All heads turned their heads towards the doorway, as Damian Slayner stepped inside.  "Hey, small universe."

            "_What_," Nike cried, "are _you_ doing _here_?"

            "Hey, no 'thanks Dame for saving me life?"  The young man asked with a smile.  "That hurts, Miss Solo."

            "Well good," Nike said dryly.

            "Ah, so you all know each other," Nord said happily, "that's good."

            "So you're the other guy in our room," Sylor said.

            "Guess so," Damian shrugged.

            "Well, Dame," Nord said, "you get started making dinner, I have to go to the cantina to um…do stuff, the rest of you do your chores."

            "Sure thing," Damian said.

            "_You're cooking?_"  Nike asked, not seeing the picture.

            "Yes," Damian told her, "I happen to know how to cook."

            "But…you're a Sith!"  She cried.  In her mind she was trying to picture Darth Vader taking cookies out of the oven.

            "And Sith I guess don't eat or something?"  He asked her. 

            "Well…cooking?"  She asked.

            Damian sighed and rolled his eyes and said, "You're exasperating."

            "So why did you come to Tatooine?"  Sylor asked.

            "Because I wanted to leave the Sith, and this was the easiest place to get to," he shrugged.  "Just make sure you don't say anything about my last name, my father will be looking for me, it's Killrun now."

            "Damian Killrun?"  Ben mused over the name.  "We should have gotten codenames."  The other three rolled their eyes.

            "Damian Killrun," C-3P0 said, "what an interesting name.  I am See-Threepio, human cyborg relations, my vicinities include-"

            "Yeah, yeah, great, so-" Damian interrupted.

            "My goodness," Threepio gasped.

            "-what are you all doing on this dust pit planet?" He finished, crossing his arms and leaning against the bar table, ready to listen and looking interested.

            "Well," Ben said, "Nike's parents wanted to send her to boarding school on Coruscant, and they wanted to send us there too, with _Threepio_ in charge, so we came here."

            "You act as if I am some incapable bucket of bolts," Threepio complained.

            "Well," Damian said, "nice story, short and sweet, but what made you pick Tatooine?"

            "I had a feeling," Moria said, "like this was where we needed to be."

            "Well," Damian put on a more investigative, thoughtful face, "how do you know it was the right feeling?"

            "What?"  Moria asked, "I don't understand what you mean."

            "I mean, how do you know that this feeling wasn't just some kind of desire that you had, that seemed to be a good idea, and thus became a feeling?"

            "Well, I-"

            "Moria happens to be very attuned to her feelings and desires," Nike interrupted.

            "Well I'm so glad she has you tell me these things," Damian said with a nod.  Nike deepened her scowl.

            "_Actually_," Ben said, "feelings can betray us, Nike, you shouldn't try to explain the Force when you know so little about it."

            "I know what's worth knowing," Nike snapped, "but if you don't mind, _I'm_ going to do my job."  And then she stormed off.

            "Is she like this around everyone," Damian asked, "or just me?"

            "What are you talking about?"  Sylor asked, "you haven't even seen her mad."

*~*~*~*~

            Ten-year-old Reuben Whitewinger strode in step behind his Jedi Master, Kyp Durron, as they departed from their starship, and entered Calrissian Space Station.  Reuben wasn't a big fan of space stations.  Starships, starfighters, speeders, he was fine with those, but even after three years of being with Master Kyp, the third son of a Tatoonie moisture farmer was still overwhelmed by space stations.

            Master Kyp must have sensed his uneasiness, because he stopped and turned to the boy with a smile on his face.

            "You okay?"  The man asked.

            "Yes, Master," he replied, "it's just that…"

            "You still haven't gotten over your fear of space stations," Kyp finished for him.

            "I'm not afraid of them," Reuben said defensively, "I just feel safer when I can see what's going on around me.  In these blasted contraptions I can't see anything but walls."  Kyp smiled at his apprentice and shook his head.

            "If you cannot see something, then feel for it with the Force, and it will be there."  

            "Yes Master," the boy said.

"Let's just go see why Master Skywalker called us here," Kyp suggested, and continued on his way.  Rueben fell in step beside Kyp, and the pair made their way across the compound.  The turbolift door opened, and Luke Skywalker came walking out.

            "Kyp!"  He said happily.

            "Luke," Kyp relied, not as enthusiastically, but with a smile.

            "And Reuben," the Jedi Master said, "you're growing like a weed."

            "Don't lie Master Skywalker," Reuben said after a quick bow, "I'm small for an _eight-year-old_."  

            "Don't worry," Luke laughed, "you'll shoot up in a year or two and be taller then a Wookie."

            "I'm still smaller then the twins, aren't I?"  The boy asked.

            "Only by a hair," Luke reassured with a wink.  Reuben smiled, but as soon as Luke and Kyp had turned their backs, rolled his eyes, knowing good and well that Lane and Launie would be taller then him, even though he was one year older.

            Reuben dismissed his thoughts and tuned into what the two Jedi were saying as they walked through the space station.

            "I heard about the incident last week with the attack on the Death Star," Kyp told Luke.  Reuben furrowed his brow, unsure of what his Master meant.

            "You mean the incident with my children," Luke sighed, "Well, they've all been shipped off to Coruscant, they left just yesterday actually, tomorrow they'll be arriving.  But that's not why I needed to talk to you."

            "I didn't think it was," Kyp replied.

            "The Jedi Consul have been calling all the Jedi to us," Luke explained, "to do different assignments."

"I know," Kyp said, "I _am_ part of the Consul."

"I know," Luke said, "but I fear that the Sith may have plans that we are blind to.  So we need some Jedi to go out on more dangerous missions.  That is why I need your help.  I have an assignment for you."

"Well I was hoping not to have to sit around the entire time," Kyp said with the slightest hint of sarcasm.  

"I have sources who tell me of some sort of cloning happening on Hoth."

            "Cloning?"  Kyp asked.

            "Not like the Clone Wars," Luke told him, "apparently, the Sith have somehow found a way to create replicas of both living and dead beings."  Reuben wrinkled his nose is disgust.

            "So what would you like me to do?"  Kyp asked.

            "I need you to go to Hoth and find out what exactly is going on."

            "So we have to go to Hoth?"  Reuben asked.  He hated the cold, and from what he had heard, that was all Hoth was.

            "Well, actually," Luke stopped, and turned to look at the boy, "Kyp will be going alone."  Reuben raised one of his brown eyebrows.

            "But I'm his apprentice," Reuben said.  Although he didn't want to go to Hoth, he didn't want to be left out either.

            "Yes, but I need you in the command room," Luke told him, "you'll be in there with Launie and Lane and I'll need you to contact me if anyone coms in with important news."

            "Launie and Lane?"  Reuben said weakly and a bit disgustedly.

            "Yes," Luke said, not understanding why the boy was reacting this way, "I thought you were friends with them."

            "I was," Reuben said, "but then they became girls."  Kyp and Luke exchanged confused glances.

            "Reuben," Kyp said, "they were always girls."

            "Well I know that," Reuben groaned, as if Kyp and Luke were very dense and what he was saying made perfect sense.  "Look, all Lane cares about are her cuticles, whatever those are, and all Launie does is daydream about who-knows-what.  Last time I was with them in Coruscant, I spent two days with them in Nike's room while they talked about gross girl stuff and watched Nike do her hair.  I can't take that again."

            Luke placed a hand over his mouth to hide his smile.  Kyp looked just as amused, but didn't bother to hide it.

            "Come on my young apprentice," Kyp said as he turn to continue walking, "maybe you can help them see the light."

*~*~*~*~

            Darth Sarleen Twi'blek walked briskly down the corridor that led to what the new recruits called, the thrown room.  Sarleen had been one of the first to follow Reth Slayner in his pursuit of making a Sith Order.  She had been only sixteen at the time, a slave dancer of Pheron the Hutt, when she had met Reth.  He had apparently seen something in the purple skinned Twi'lek, and had offered to train her in the ways of the Force.  At first she reclined, but after explaining to her that through him she could become the most powerful being in the galaxy, she became very interested in what he had to say.

            Sarleen smiled at the memory of the early days of the Sith, back when Luther and Damian were only children, and there were a mere four other Sith.

            Damian.  The thought of him caused her to furrow her brow.  Damian and Luther were twins.  They were both excellent with lightsabers, both were fully attuned to the Force, both were smart, cunning, indepentdent, but there were two major differences.

            Luther was a great pilot, and a great mechanic, but lacked any kind of social skills.  Damian was by far much more talkative.  His mouth never seemed to stop.  Even when he was young he would analyze everything until you just wanted to strangle him.  It wasn't just that he talked either, he debated, and not only did he debate, he was a very convincing debater.  Sarleen could see him convincing a grain of sand that it was a boulder.  But when it came to mechanics, he couldn't tell a power converter from a hammer if he tried.

            And then there was flying.  There wasn't anything on any planet in the universe that Damian was afraid of, but as soon as he got off the planet, everything changed.  He hated flying.  Actually, more then hated, he was scared of flying to a point where he would hyperventilate every time he got on a starship.  He liked terra firma, and anything else he'd rather do without.  This made the fact that he lived on a space station odd, but then everyone knew that he stayed far away from compounds and windows.

            Or at least he had.  Now the jerk had been missing for almost a week, and she was the one who was going to have to tell Reth that his son had apparently left the Sith.  She wasn't sure why Luther could have done it, after all Reth would probably be less likely to shoot lightning at his son then he would Sarleen.

            She entered into a large room that had a flight of steps that led up to a platform that stood in front of a huge window that looked out into space.  There was a large chair in front of the window, the back of it facing her.  She knew Reth was sitting in the chair, and she could feel him raking over her with his mind, she dropped down to one knee, in a highly respecting bow.

            "You're here about Damian," Reth stated, it wasn't a question, he knew what was going on.

            "Yes Master," she replied.  "He's gone."

            "Is he now?" The chair turned slowly around she looked upon the sinister smirk that was on her Master's face.  He was dressed in a black suit, with a black cape draped over the sides of the chair.  He had the same black hair as his sons, except for the gray at the temples, and that his hair was cut short, while his sons kept theirs longer.  His blue eyes stood out against his pale skin.  "Arise."  Sarleen stood up and straightened.

            "He has left the Sith then?" Reth asked.

            "We are unsure on that matter, Master," she replied, "maybe he is out on a personal quest, but whatever it is, he left us no clue to where he was going."  The Sith Lord sat back, seeming be registering this information.

            "Take Luther," he said finally, "and the two of you will search for Damian.  Luther will be able to sense his whereabouts better then I can.  Now go."

            "Yes, my Master," she said with a deep bow, and then left.

*~*~*~*

            Jag Fel walked into the suite that he, Jaina and then twins stayed in while on the space station.  There was one sitting room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom, not a lot but as much as they would need while in space.  The girls' door was shut, with a big sign across the front that said _KEEP OUT.  As if some sign would stop him if he wanted to go somewhere in his own house.  Suite.  Whatever._

            Jaina walked out of their bedroom, and looked thoroughly surprised to see him.  Which surprised him since she normally was able to sense when he was around.

            "Something wrong?'  He asked, a bit amused with catching her off guard.  She ran her fingers through her hair and heaved a sigh.

            "Yeah," she said, "but I'm glad I caught you here, or you caught me here, we need to talk."  Jag walked over a put his arms around her waist held her body against his.  She rested her forehead on his chest and sighed.

            "About what?"  He asked.  She sighed again and pulled away from him, walking over to sit on the sofa.  He sat down in a large chair next to it.

            "This is really not the time for something like this to happen," she told him.  He raised an eyebrow, and took her hand in his.

            "Are you okay?" He asked her, "you're not…sick or anything…are you?"  A small smile crossed her lips and her brown eyes sparkled.

            "I'm pregnant," she told him.  To say he was surprised was an understatement.  He just stared at her, his eyes wide and a confused look on his face.  

            "Jag…hello, anyone home?"  Jaina asked.

            "You're pregnant?"  He asked.  He then saw her eyes narrow and she frowned, apparently not taking his reaction that well.

            "Well it isn't all _my_ fault!"  She snapped, and he was pretty sure he saw tears welling up in her eyes.  She stood up to leave, but he was faster, standing up and darting in front of her.

            "You mean I'm going to be a father?"

            "You already are a father, dolt," she snapped.  To her surprise he was suddenly laughing, and then he picked her up and twirled her around, and then kissed her shortly but fiercely.  She smiled back at him, seeing how happy he was.

            "I can't believe it!"  He cried.  "We're going to have a baby!"

            "We've already had two," Jaina reminded, "for your information."

            "Well yes, but those two are so strange," he said with a smile that brought butterflies to her stomach.

            "I sincerely hope that you are not talking about us," two voices said as one.  Jaina and Jag turned to see their two daughters, standing in the doorway, Lane with her hands on her hips, Launie with her arms folded across her chest, looking like a miniature Imperial pilot in that black suit she always insisted on wearing.

            "Us?  Talk badly of the sweetest girls on the space station?"  Jag asked with mock shock.

            "Please," Launie snorted.  "So, Mom told you about the baby?"  Jag looked over at Jaina.

            "_They_ knew before _I_ did?"  He asked.

            "I didn't know they knew," Jaina said, looking at her daughters surprised.

            "Of course we knew," Lane said, as if this were all stupid, "we felt her through the Foce."

            "_Him_," Launie corrected snottily.

            "Her," Lane fought back.

            "Him, and what makes you think it's a girl?"

            "Mom wouldn't bring another idiot into the world," Lane replied.

            "Hey!" Jag said, offended.

            "How would you two know what sex it is?"  Jaina asked, crossing her arms.

            "We don't," Lane said.

            "But I get fifteen credits if I'm right," Launie said.

            "Do you have fifteen credits?"  Jag asked.

            "No," Launie said, "which is why I'm hoping I'm right."

            "Hey, happy family," someone in the doorway said.  They looked over to see Mara standing there with a smirk.

            "Hello Mistress Great Aunt Mara," Launie said with a bow.

            "Hello back at you Padawan Great Niece Launie," Mara replied with a bow.  "And you too Lane."

            "Hi," Lane said, hoping that Mara wasn't here to talk about their training at all.

            "I just came to say that there's a surprise for the girls in the command room," she said, and Jaina saw the mischief in her former Master's eyes.

            "A surprise?"  Lane cried, delighted.

            "Is it big?" Launie asked.

            "You'll have to go see," Mara said, and like a flash the two girls were gone.  "And you two," the woman said with a nod in their direction, "Luke wants to see you."

            "We'll be there in a minute," Jaina answered.  Mara smiled at them, and then left.

*~*~*~

            After a grand two minutes and sixteen seconds of organizing, Nike decided that her skills were better suited for fixing this pod-racer thing.  So she headed out to the back lot, pulling her hair back into a tight bun and stopping only once to look in a small mirror and make sure her hair looked good, "how you look always matters, no matter where you are," as her mother would say.

            "Where are you going?"  She heard Moria ask, but ignored her and entered the back lot.  If she had thought that the rest of the shop was messy, then this place was the equivalent of a Hutt's mucus.  There were _mountains_ of parts heaping up to be taller then the wall that surrounded them.  There was a droids arm sticking out of what looked to be a reverse power cuplink, and how that happened she could only wonder.  All the piles were pushed to the side to create a path through it all that was big enough for at least a few people.  She made her way down the path and around one of the bigger piles to where Ben and Sylor and the droids were, along with what must have been the pod racer.

             It was basically a cockpit with two cords in the front that each led to a separate engine.  It seemed basic enough.

            "So this must be a pod racer," Nike concluded.

            "I guess so," Ben said, seemingly as unimpressed as Nike was, "it's kinda ugly though."

            "It's not ugly," Nike said, "it's just junky, but you all are going to fix it up so that we can race it."

            "What?"  Ben asked.  "Since when are _we_ planning on racing?"

            "Well, _I'm_ planning on racing," Nike corrected, "that is if I can convince Nord to let me…"

            "NIKE!"  Ben cried, "Are you insame?!  You've never even _seen_ a pod race!"

            "So?  It can't be that hard," she shrugged, "and I'm small enough to fit in the cockpit."

            "But you don't even know what a pod race is!"  Ben declared.

            "They can't be that hard to figure out," the girl said, waving her hand at Ben as if he were overreacting.

            "Mistress Nike I must protest," Threepio said, "you were put under my supervision and I do not think it wise of you to-"

            "Listen, Silverfoot," Nike said, holding up a hand asking him to shut up, "nobody cares what you think, so why don't you-"

            "Listen here you intolerable, disobedient little brat!"  Threepio's tone and use of words caught the three humans very much off guard.  "I can tak a lot from you humans and I have for a long time, but I am NOT your droid, I am your mothers and you WILL listen to me because I have direct orders from HER!"  The three children blinked.

            "Wow Threepio," Sylor said, "you tell her."

            "I was telling you as well," the droid snapped.  Ben and Sylor laughed, causing the droid to shake his fist at them, "I will not be ignored!"  This only caused the boys to laugh more.

            "Look," Nike said, "I'll talk to Nord about it, I can convince him to let me at least try it out, once we get this thing fixed up at least."

            "Pod racing is no joke," Damian said from behind.  Nike turned to look at him.

            "And what would you know about it?"  She asked.

            "A lot," he replied, "I've seen the races.  People die."

            "Yeah well, I won't," Nike replied.

            "You shouldn't be so confident," he told her.

            "If you're not confident you're a coward," she replied.

            "Maybe, but if you're overconfident you're an idiot," he said back, "or dead.  Besides, Nord would only let a very experienced pilot race his pod, and besides that, can you pay the entrance fee, or even bet anything?  How will you get anyone to bet on you?  Why would you need to race?  You should consider all of these."

            "Okay, they're considered, I still want to do it," she said.  Damian sighed and she could tell he was frustrated with her.  He shook his head solemnly and looked over at Ben and Sylor.

            "Nord has returned," he said, "you might want to hurry with that pod because Sab'lou Morlowin is coming by later to look at it to buy."

            "Buy?"  Nike asked.

            "Yeah, Sab'lou's the best pod racer around," Damian told her, "he's got enough money to buy any pod he wants and make it into a winner.  Nord doesn't have anyone to race his pod so he's selling it."

            "What?"  Nike cried.  "But I'll race it!"

            "I don't think you're up to the demands of pod racing," Damian said.

            "Oh really?"  Nike snapped, "well I so happen to-"

            "So what exactly is this conversation about?"  The small group turned or looked up to see Nord, who had somehow walked over without anyone seeing.

            "Nike wants to pod race," Damian said matter-of-factly.

            "Oh do you now?"  Nord asked, "I thought we talked about this earlier, humans don't do it, and even if they could, have you even seen a pod race before?"

            "Well…no," Nike said, "but my Dad says I shouldn't knock something before I try it."

            "Your father also said for you to go to Coruscant," Threepio muttered.

            "Coruscant?"  Nord asked, scratching his head, "didn't that turn into some kind of forest or something?"

            "Are you talking about when the Vong took it over?"  Ban asked, "then yes, it was pulled out of it's orbit and closer to the sun from what I'm told, but ten years ago or so we were able to pull it back into it's proper orbit."

            "Yeah," Sylor said, "a lot of it's still covered into plants, but the Alliance is working hard to reestablish it to what it once was."

            "Ah," Nord said, "guess I need to get out more.  Anyway, pod racing is dangerous, even for the best pilots, I doubt you could do it."

            "Here that Mistress Nike," Threepio said triumphantly, "you can not do it.  Anyway, what would your parents think if you were hurt on one of those dreadful things?  Or worse, what if you were killed?  No, you'll stay right here on the ground until we can get transportation to Coruscant."

            "Now I didn't say she _couldn't_, just that I doubt she could," Nord went on about having to see pilots in action and all that, while Nike reflected on what Threepio had said.  Jaina and Jacen were war heroes, they had seen more action and adventure then Nike could dream of and although she had been told again and again that it was a hard life, it was what she wanted more then anything.  To be a hero.  To be a great pilot and do something great, anything great.  But her parents made that dream impossible.

            If Nike died then she had no idea what her parents would do.  Probably stop worrying about her all the time, they could live at least a bit more peacefully.  And then the thought hit her that it probably wouldn't hurt as much as losing Anakin, the brother she had never met.  No one ever talked about him to her; she just knew he was a hero, a great young man and an awesome pilot, and would have probably been stronger then Uncle Luke.

            She had always wanted to meet him.  No one had ever said anything bad about him, when he was mentioned.  For the longest time she had tried to become who her brother was, to take his place.  She tried learning to fix things, and although she was good at it, realized that she didn't have the patience for that kind of thing.  She had tried and tried to become a Jedi while everyone could only watch hopelessly as she tried to be someone she wasn't, trying to replace someone she couldn't.

            It had finally hit her that she would never be a patient mechanic, or a great Jedi (or a Jedi at all), and so she had finally gotten away from her confused manner, and settled into the skin of the bossy, impatient, independent, pilot she was, and realized that that was who she was and who she wanted to be.  And that was who her parents would miss if she died.  She suddenly felt extremely guilty for being on Tatooine.

            "Hey Solo," Nord said, snapping Nike out of her thoughts, "you in there?"

            "Huh?  What?"  Nike asked.

            "I asked if you wanted to just take a practice run on it," Nord explained.

            "Oh I…" she paused, backtracking to what she had just been thinking about, "I don't know."

            "Of course you know!"  C-3P0 cried, "you're not going on that thing!"

            "You're not the one to decided," Damian said, "Shorty here's gotta make her own terms.  Although I think she's too scared."  And then the thoughts exploded and her decision was made up.

            "I'm going," she said, with a sharp look at Damian, "and I'm not afraid." 

            "Sure you aren't," Damian said with a smile.

            "Well," Nord said, "as soon as ya'll fix this piece of crap you can do it, now get to work, Damian, go cook!"

            "It's done," Damian said, "I think I'll help make sure Shorty doesn't kill herself when she gets in."

            "Don't call me that."

            "Sure thing Tidbit."

*******

            Pleasepleasepleaseplease review!


	4. Chapter 4

Star Wars: Rise of the Sith

Chapter 4

********

            "Nike I think we need that."

            "No we don't."

            "Well then we defiantly need that."

            "That's just for show."

            "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to take that off."

            "It's _fine_.  Look, I'm the one who knows the most about fixing things around here, therefore I'm in charge."

            "First off, Miss I-threw-a-turbo-combustor-out-the-window-when-I-got-mad-at-it, I'm the mechanic around here, secondly, what you just took off it the thing that gives this thing its power."

            "According to the holocharts-"

            "Moria, I don't _need_ a holochart."

            "Yeah but that goes there and you got the flow systems reversed."

            "Do not."

            "Actually you do."

            "No one asked you _Damian_."

            "You will all stop this nonsense immediately!  You're parents will sell me when they hear of this"

            "WooooooEEE."

            "What do you mean 'good riddance' you insubordinate heap of trash?!"

            "Hey, Goldie, go somewhere else and scream."

            "My name is not Goldie it is-"

            "HEY!  Can it out there I got customers you're scaring off! Unless you all want to end up on some moisture farm!"  The five children and two droids stopped their arguing when Nord yelled at them.

            "I'm not getting this…_thing_," Ben finally said, looking at the pod and all the pieces that had been removed from it.   

            "Yeah well," Sylor said, "we're supposed to be fixing it, not taking everything off of it."

            "Yeah well, we want it to be fast don't we?"  Nike said.

            "Nike!"  Ben groaned exhaustedly, "you don't even know if you can pilot it yet!  Why do you want to make it faster?"

            "Because," she replied, "the faster the better and when I'm done with this it's going to have a hyperdrive."

            "You're suicidal," Damian informed her.

*~*~*~*~

            Lane looked at Launie.  Launie looked at Reuben.  Reuben looked at Lane.  Three hours.  Lane looked at Reuben.  Launie looked at Lane.  Reuben looked at Launie.  Three hours and thirteen seconds.

            Pure silence.

            Everyone was staying as far away from the command room as possible.  The tension was so thick that it even made Jag feel uncomfortable when he entered.  The children hadn't talked, just had been looking between each other, although Lane and Launie had exchanged a few mental notes, but besides that everything had been silent.

            Lane personally would have liked to talk, but she could sense it in Reuben that he didn't want to.  So she sat there, watching either the simulators or the boy, wondering what to say.  That was when Padme entered.

            "What 'cha doing?" the little girl asked.  She was wearing a little brown dress, fit for the toddler she was, with her brown hair pulled back in small curls, and her green eyes shining.

            "We're working," Lane replied to her cousin.

            "It don't look like you're workin'," she pointed out innocently.

            "That's because we're not working just yet, we're waiting for work to come to us," Lane explained.

            "That doesn't sound very assertable," the little girl had a habit of taking words she didn't know and making them into bigger, nonexistent words.

            "Padme, isn't it past your bedtime or something?"  Launie asked.  Lane shot her sister a look.  Padme and Launie were infamous for not getting along very well with each other, and it caused just about everyone else to get very annoyed at times, Lane's look told her sister that she didn't what to hear their banter, and so she shut up, Padem ignored the question and turned to Reuben.

            "And how are you?"  She asked.  Reuben smiled and ran his fingers through his thick brown hair.

            "Pretty good, and yourself?"

            "Okay, I guess," the little girl shrugged, "'cept my daddy's gotta leave for Hoth."

            "What?"  Reuben asked, "Jacen's going to Hoth also?"

            "Yup, Uncle Luke said that that Master Kyp would need some help, and so Daddy's goin' too," the little girl said.

            "Ah," Reuben said with a nod.  Lane and Launie frowned.

            "I wonder what exactly is going on over on Hoth that makes it necessary for two fully trained Jedi Knights to go sneaking around over there," Lane said.

            "Whatever it is," Launie said, "it can't be good."

*~*~*~*

            Air.  Something that he knew, but hadn't felt for a long time filled his lungs when he sucked in.  He was standing in a very dark room with nothing in it except himself.  He looked around, and wondered where he was.

            Or who he was.

            Everything had been black, and then suddenly, there was light, not much considering that only a small window near the ceiling of the room gave in light, but it's small energy was like burning brightness on his new eyes.

            New eyes?  Were they new?  Was this body new?  Was it old?  Had he ever had a body before?

            He was confused, more confused then he had ever been in his life…or non-life, whichever it was.  He tired to think, and remember things, but it all seemed like a blur.  Or was there even an 'it' to be thought of as a blur…

            He sat down on the floor and put his hands to his head.  He wanted answers, and he wanted them soon.

*~*~*~*

            "Alright," Nike said, standing up from a crouch at the pod and wiping her grimy hands on her grimy coveralls, "I think it's time we see what this baby can do."

            "If it can do anything," Ben said dryly.

            "It'll be great," Nike said.

            "Yeah," Sylor said sarcastically, "after you _ripped the engine off_, I'm sure it's gonna do a great honkin' lot."

            "Hey, I put it back on," Nike said defensively.

            "Yeah," Damian said, "backwards."

            "Hey, cut me some slack this is my first time," she said.

            "Alright, let me see how much you've ruined it," they heard Nord call as he came around the pile of junk.  Nike bit her nail nervously, but then instantly regretted it as an oily, metallic taste bit her tongue.  Nord inspected the Pod 

            "Well," he said, circling the Racer, "it looks good enough.  But will it actually move?"

            "I'll test it!"  Nike said, jumping into the cockpit before anyone else had a chance to register his question.  She instantly noticed that there was a reason that humans didn't race these things.  They were small.  There was just enough room in it for her to fit nicely into it, but if she were any bigger then she guessed her butt might have gotten stuck.

            Damian placed a helmet on top of her head, and then punched it down to fit around her head, causing a great deal of her hair to get stuck in front of her face.  Using a few Corellian curse words she had learned from her father, she pulled the helmet off and fixed her hair before placing it carefully back on.  She strapped a pair of goggles around her head and adjusted them to her face.

            "Do you know how to start 'er up?"  Nord asked.  Nike nodded, and began flicking on power switches as her friends moved away.  The engines on the Pod roared to life and she began to vibrate as the harnessed power shook the Pod.

            "It's working!"  She called out joyfully.  Ben, Sylor and Damian all smiled with the job they had done, and Moria rolled her eyes.  She never got these peoples' obsession with fixing things.  Nord smiled too.  And Nike shut off the Pod.

            "Now it's good to sell to Sab'lou," he said.

            "No!"  Nike cried, "you can't sell it!  We just fixed it so that it can race!"

            "I know, race for Sab'lou, I can't let anyone race my Pod."

            "Why not?"  Ben asked.

            "Because everyone worth racing in the Boonta race has already been sponsored."

            "Boonta race?"

            "Boonta Eve Classic," he explained, "it's the most difficult Podrace course around."

            "You can sponsor me," Nike replied.

            "You?"  Nord asked, "haven't we gone over this before?"

            "You don't understand," Nike said, "I'm a pilot!"

            "Yes well, there's a difference between pilot and Podracer."

            "I've run asteroid courses," Nike replied, "I've fought against TIE fighters, I…made the Kessel Run in less then twelve parsecs."  Ben and Sylor exchanged glances, knowing full well that it was all a lie-except the part about TIE fighters.

            Nord raised a thoughtful eyebrow, rubbing his chin with one of his hands.

            "You're not gonna let me sell 'er until you race 'er are you?"  He asked.

            "I've been known to be a pain about these sort of things," she admitted, knowing full well that she had won.

            "Very well," he sighed, "you can give 'er a test run.  But if I don't think you can handle 'er I'm sellin' 'er to Sab'lou.  And don't bust 'er up."

            "You're the best!"  Nike declared, and threw her arms around the salesman.

            "Can we eat first?"  Ben asked.

            "Really," Sylor agreed, "my stomach is eating my kidneys!"

            "Of course," Nord said, and headed inside.

            "Well let's hurry!"  Nike said, running ahead of all them, "we're loosing daylight and the race is in a week!"

*~*~*~*

            "Alright," Nord leaned against the Pod's cockpit, where Nike sat, and explained to her the trial course she was going to be taking, "you'll go around those rock mounts, then through that tunnel, it's a wide one so no need to fright, then back here.  And watch out for Tusken Raiders."

            "Got it," Nike said, pulling the helmet on.

            "You mean there's really people who sit on rocks and shoot at people?"  Ben whispered to Sylor, who shrugged.  Damian looked at them quizzically, then turned back to watch Nike.

            The girl started up the engines, and before anyone could mouth a word to her, she was off.  The Pod was a lot faster then she could ever imagine, and she was at first spiked with fear that she wouldn't be able to handle it.

            _Come on Solo, she told herself, __you can handle this.  You can handle anything.  She focused on the tall pillars of rock that she was coming up on, and weaving in and out of them.  She came dangerously close to hitting one, but pulled quickly to port to dodge it._

            She entered the entrance of the cave that Nord had directed her to, and realized that it wasn't as wide as he had made it seem.  _I need to slow down.  But if I do then I'll never be able to race.  If you can't get through this then you have no business Podracing, much less trying to save the Alliance._

            She gritted her teeth and focused her mind on the task before her_.  Get out of the cave as fast as you can without dismembering yourself.  She pushed forward on the acceleration stick on either side of her and surged forward.  She got closer to the wall of cave, and then right before hitting it, jerked to starboard._

            "Sith spawn!"  She hissed as a few rocks banged into the Pod.  She swiveled a bit before pulling the Pod straight and exited the cave.  She surged across open ground until the reached her group, where she pulled the Pod to a sharp halt.

            "Forget an X-wing," Nike said, pulling the helmet off her head, "I want one of these."

            "That was amazing!"  Moria said, "I mean, you were flying!"

            "It makes me sick just watching it," Damian retorted.

            "What?"  Nike snapped, "are you scared of flying or something?"

            "Scared?  No.  Immensely not fond of the idea that anything that goes up can come down, and come down hard or could blow up into a million pieces?  Yes."

            "Scared," Nike muttered, but the dark haired ex-Sith ignored her.

            "Well, Solo," Nord sighed, "with flying like that I would be an idiot to just sell this without giving you a chance-"

            "YES!"  Nike whooped, throwing her fist into the air.

            "-but it's a lot different when you're racing actual other Pods, and not just yourself, and the terrain's harder."

            "Yeah, a lot more fun!"  the girl exclaimed.

            "I lot more death," Damian muttered.

            "Let's just get you ready for the race this weekend," Nord suggested, and Nike beamed.  Her father would go into shock when he heard about this.

*~*~*~*

            "THEY WHAT?!"  Han Solo demanded, slamming a fist down on the control panel.  The man on the holoscreen-a worker on the docking bay on Coruscant, where the children were to be dropped off-somehow found a way to flush even more then before.

            "Uh, we uh, are unable to locate them-"

            "Unable to locate them?" The man asked, putting on a look that he usually saved for a certain silver-legged droid every time he told him something about the _Falcon that Han didn't know._

            "Well sir, they weren't on the ship-"

            "What do you mean they weren't on the ship?"  Han asked.  Luckily, his wife stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder before he could threaten the man and break the holoscreen.

            "Are you sure they weren't on the ship?"  Leia asked, hardly able to keep worry out of her voice.

            "Of course they weren't on the ship!"  Mara snapped angrily, "and when I get my hands on that idiot son of mine I'll."

            "This was probably Nike's idea," Han snapped, wondering why he couldn't have at least ONE obedient child.

            "I can't believe Moria would go along with them on something like this," Luke said, "I would at least think she would have more sense then the rest of them."

            "If  I may be so bold," the man on the holoscreen said, "there was another ship departing around the time you dropped the children off."

            "Where to?"  The four parents asked in unison.

            "Tatooine," the man replied.

            "Tatooine?"  Mara asked,  "Why would they go there?"

             "Who cares," Han said, "as long as I get to beat Nike raw when I see her?"

            "You're never in your life even spanked one of the children," Leia pointed out, "much less beat one of them."

            "Yeah well your daughter's really pushing it," her husband muttered, not even claiming parentship of his daughter.

            "We'd better go get them," Luke pointed out.

            "No," Han shook his head," _I'll_ go get them.  I'm the one out of us who's not needed for this war, so I'll be the one to bust their heads."

            "Be sure to give my children my regards," Mara said with a smile.

*~*~*~*

            Moria's red hair stuck to the back on her neck as she and Nike walked down the street towards BiLow's Market under the hot sun.  They both wore cloth tunics, breeches, and leather boots, all shades of brown.  The clothes were rather plain for both girls' tastes, and Nike was rather disappointed with the humidity and how it messed up her hair, no matter what she did with it.  Nike was about the fussiest person Moria knew when it came to her hair.  Now she was wearing it in too buns on the sides of her head, a style her mother had worn when she was younger.  Moria had just pulled her curly mass up and a band held it loosely.

            "Emperor's black bones it's hot out here," Nike complained, "I mean, why would anyone want to live here?"

            "I don't think they necessarily _want_ to," Moria replied, "some were just raised here, and others are on the run from someone."

            "Like their parents," her cousin joked.  Nike skipped ahead and Moria furrowed her brow.  Was this what they were doing?  Running from their parents?  Or were they running from something else?  Like responsibility.

            "Hey!  Watch it!"  Moria's thoughts were interrupted by Nike yelling at someone.  Nike was snapping her head off at some alien-a Dug-who was snapping his head off back at her, both speaking-no, screaming-separate languages.

            "Is she a politician?"  Moria practically jumped out of her skin when Damian came up behind her.

            "What?"  She gasped, spinning around to look at him.

            "I asked if she's a politician, because she sure sounds like one," Dame replied with a smile.  Sith lords he was handsome with that smile, and that sparkle in his blue eyes.

            "Who is that she's fighting with?" Moria asked him.

            "Sab'lou," Dame laughed, "ionic isn't it.  They're going to be racing against each other tomorrow.  What a perfect way for them to meet for the first time, in an argument."

            "So why do you say she sounds like a politician?"

            "Mostly because I don't like politicians, and secondly because she sure can throw out an argument like nothing I've seen.  I mean, she clearly ran into him but she's got him stumped and is practically convincing him otherwise, "he looked back at Moria, "and if you're able to stump a Dug then you're very well off."

            "Can you understand what he's saying?"  She asked.

            "With my ears?  No.  But through the Force we can understand things that even our mind can't begin to comprehend," he told her wisely.  Moria smiled.

            "You know, for a guy who was raised to be a Sith you sure act like a Jedi."

            "Well that just happens to be what I want to be," Dame told her.  "I never wanted to be a Sith."

            "Well that's nice to know," she replied with a smile.  The two watched in silence as the Dug and Nike yelled at each other as they parted ways.  Nike walked back over to them looking disgusted.

            "Can you believe that creep?"  She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

            "Could you _understand_ that creep?"  Dame asked.

            "Some of us, _Damian_, can tell by their tone what other are saying," she informed him.

            "Ah," he nodded smartly with a smirk.  She scowled at him, piercing him with a stare of her hazel eyes.  "Hey lighten up bread rolls."  He patted her hair and Moria could tell that only the fact that she knew she wouldn't be able to actually hurt Dame if she attacked him was keeping Nike from chocking him.

            "Don't touch my hair," was all she said, shoving his hand away, "Come on Mo, let's go to the market."

            "Okay," Moria said, "see ya later Dame."

            "See ya," Dame replied and then they parted ways.

            "Why do you call him that?"  Nike asked irritated.

            "What?"

            "Why do you call him Dame?"  She repeated.

            "Um…" Moria said, not sure how to answer, "I guess 'cause we're friends.  It's just like how you guys call me Mo, and we call Sylor Sy, and how we tease Ben and call him Ben Ben, like Mom and Dad used to do."

            "Yeah but Damian's not…"

            "Not what?"  Moria asked.

            "He's not…part of our…group."

            "Group?"  Moria asked.  "Look Nike, I know you don't like change, but it happens, and "our group" is going to grow, or it may shrink.  That's life."

            "Well thanks for that Yoda," Nike muttered, and Moria laughed, glad to have her cousin's dry humor along, even if it was mocking her.

*~*~*~*

            The day of the Podrace Nike dressed in a dark green sleeveless pilots uniform.  She pulled on knee high black leather boots and black gloves.  She did her hair in a braid and coiled it into a large circle on the back of her head.

            She checked herself in the mirror, making sure she looked presentable, a habit she had learned from her mother, and had been mercilessly teased and badgered by Jaina about.

            "Hurry up, Shorty," Damian barged into Nike's room, causing her to gasp and jump away from the mirror shaking from be startled.

            "Did I scare ya, Princess?"  He asked with a satisfied smile.

            "Scared?"  She asked, "no.  Immensely not fond of little boys intruding on my privacy?  Yes."

            "Well then," he said, leaning against the wall, "it's a good thing I'm not a little boy."  He smiled even wider, and she turned back towards the mirror, not wanting to look at him for fear that she might smile or he would see her blush.  She fumbled with her belt and felt his eyes boring down into her.  That didn't help her shaking hands very much.

            "Will you get out?"  She asked.

            "Sure," Damian shrugged, "but I must ask why you're getting so dressed up when you're just going to get all dirty."

            "I'm not dressed up too much," she informed him, "but I just like to make sure I look good no matter what I'm doing."  Damian looked as if he were about to say something, but then stopped when Moria came in.

            "Hey, you ready to go?"  She asked.

            "Yeah, one minute," Nike said.

            "Well I'll see you guys in a few minutes," Damian said and left the room.

*~*~*~*

            Dame poured himself a cup of whiskey and downed it, then set it down to be filled again.  He didn't like flying, he liked the ground.  He planned to live and die on the ground.  He had hated living on that space station, and now that he was on Tatooine he had planned on staying there and drinking away the rest of his life.

            And then he had met the little Skywalker-Solo-Hall gangbang.  They all turned out to be pilots-a job he would never be able to fulfill-and the children and apprentices of legends.  Yet they seemed unhappy with their lives.  He wasn't sure how anyone could be unhappy being the son of the most powerful Jedi Master in the galaxy, but then some of the new cadets were jealous of his for being Reth Slayner's son, and _he _certainly didn't see anything great about it.

            He had only planned on having a few drinks so that he wouldn't be conscious enough to worry the entire time Nike was out there on the course.  She wasn't his favorite person in the world, but he didn't want to see her decapitated or blown up.  He was thinking about going over to the Pod Compound at the arena, where all the racers prepared their Pods, when he heard something very interesting.

            "-trying to find Ben Skywalker-" Dame turned his head fast to see an alien-he was fairly certain it was a Toydarian-talking to the bartender.

            "Awful shame when a parent's got to put a bounty on their kid 'cause they can't find them," the bartender said.  Dame tuned in with the Force to hear the whole conversation.

            "Yeah well, Han Solo's coming down to get 'em," the Toydarian replied, "but if them kids don't wanna be found I'm sure they can find a way to stay not found."

            "I hear one of 'em's enterin' the Boonta-" That's all Dame listened to because he was out of there.  He ran-which is quite hard for a half drunk guy to do-to the Compound and searched frantically for Nike.  He saw her, under the Pod getting her clothes that she had spent so much time perfecting dirty, and jogged over, knocking over a bucket but hardly noticing.

            "Nike!" He hissed, not wanting anyone else to hear him.  She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly not wanting to talk to him, "we need to talk."

            She pushed herself back under the Pod.  He scowled and used the Force to pull her back out.

            "Your father's coming here," he told her.

            "What?"  She asked.

            "Your dad's coming to get you," he repeated, "but it gets worse.  Apparently your parents have put a bounty on you so they can find you faster."

            "So now I can't race," she said, "or they'll know who I am."

            "We could use code names!"  Ben came out of nowhere and said happily.  Sylor and Moria were right behind him.

            "Have you registered yet?"  Dame asked Nike.

            "No, I'm waiting for Nord, we have to register together," she told them.

            "Good, then put a different name down," he said.

            "But Nord will want to know why," Moria reminded them.

            "What will Nord want to know?"  _Emperor's black bones!_ Dame thought as Nord came walking up, _I've gotta start paying more attention!  People just keep sneaking up on me!_

            "Er…well uh…" Nike said, everyone else was just about as literate.

            "Seein' how we're know each other for almost a week now, I'd figured ya'll'd be able to not lie to me," he said.  The children blushed in shame.

            "If Damian knows then he should know," Nike reasoned.

            "Um, yeah, Damian was the one who found out in the first place," Dame pointed out, waving his hand at her.

            "Stop chatting and start telling," Nord snapped.  Within minutes the entire story was told and Nord listened, only interrupting a few times to ask questions.  When they were done he nodded slowly before finally speaking.

            "So I could turn you over to your parents and get paid," he mused, rubbing his chin, and smiled when he saw the children tense, "but then I wouldn't be able to see Nike win the Boonta."  The girl beamed and Dame rolled his eyes.

            "Well we'd better get her signed up," Dame said, "Unless you want her to _watch _the race."

            "Come on then," Nord said, "let's go register, just think up a name before we get there." 

*~*~*~*

            "Name?" The droid at the desk asked.

            "Chewie Loso," the hazel eyed, brown haired girl told replied.

            "You do know that humans can not race Pods," the droid asked.

            "Yeah, I know, now shut up and register me," Nike snapped.  If the droid could, it would have scowled at her, but instead just added her name to the race forum.  She briefly wondered if anyone would actually bet on her.  She had gotten her codename from her father's former partner and best friend, who had been a Wookie.  She had heard many stories about Chewbacca-more then she had her brother Anakin-and wished that she had gotten to meet him.  As so Loso, it was just her last name, but with the So and the Lo reversed.

            Nord talked to the droid, giving the model and year of the Pod, while Nike looked around.  The compound was full of aliens, Dugs, Twi'lek, Bothans, Jawas, and many others that she couldn't place.  She saw Sab'lou, screaming at the droids that were working on his Pod.  She then looked over to where her cousins and Damian, and Sylor were arguing with C-3P0 about something.

            "Alright _Chewie," Nord said throwing a wink at her, causing her to smile, "let's get that Pod out there and ready to go."_

*~*~*~*

            Moria and Damian watched a group of people make bets on different racers, and noted that none were going for Chewie Loso.

            "I can't believe that people actually bet on these things," Moria told Dame.

            "Gambling corrupts even the most genuine men," Dame said wisely.

            "Anyone who does this is just wasting their life away and will end up in debt and poverty."

            "Mo!  Dame!"  The pair turned to see Ben and Sylor running up to them.

            "You dolts are gonna get us shipped off to on the first transport to Coruscant if you don't stop using our names," Moria hissed at them.

            "Oh, my bad," Ben muttered, "anyway, guess what we did!"

            "What?"  She asked, not really interested.

            "We're gonna get a ship," he said with a huge smile.

            "What?!" She cried.  "How? We don't even have any money!"

            "That doesn't matter," Ben waved a hand at her, "we placed a bet on her.  She's nice, sleek, even got a cloaking device."

            "What is it?  A Star Destroyer?"  She snapped, "And what do you mean you placed a bet on her, what happens if you lose?"

            "We're not gonna lose," Sylor said confidently, "and if we do then we'll get off this planet as quickly as possible because this ship costs about as much as this whole planet."

            "My hair tie costs about as much as this planet," Moria told him, "and I can't believe you would stoop so low as to gamble."

            "Hey, Dame bet too and you're not jumping all over him," Ben said.  Moria looked over at Dame, who shrugged.

            "I said it wasn't wise, not that I don't do it," he told her.  She scowled.  "So what's this ship look like?"  Ben smiled and pulled out a little data pad out of his pocket.  He pressed a button and a small holograph of a ship appeared.

            "It's an older Corillian model," Sylor said, "She's got a hyperspace countdown of two point three seconds, two cockpits, and three gun rooms, as well as a sleeping quarters, living area-"

            "And a kitchen," Ben said.  Dame seemed very impressed by all this, and Moria could only scowl.

            "So what do you bet on?"  She asked him.

            "Just money," he shrugged, "There's a lot of different people I'm betting against."

            "What's the total?"  Sylor asked.

            "Something like three million."

            "Credits?"  Sylor and Ben cried at the same time.  Dame nodded.

            "Three million credits?"  Moria gasped, in some kind of daze.

            "Do you have enough money to reimburse if you lose?" Ben asked.

            "Yeah," Dame shrugged, "when my mom died she left all her money to me.  It's like, thirty three billion or something like that."  All three children stared at him with their mouths hanging open and their eyes popping out of their faces.

            "Thirty three billion?"  Moria hissed.

            "Yeah," Dame shrugged, "I'm rich."

            "No, Dame, that's not rich that's…Dame, there are _kings_ who don't have that much money," Ben said.

            "Yeah, like the King of the Ewoks," Dame replied.

            "No, like the freaking king of Hapes!"  Ben screamed.

            "Actually, on Hapes the women-"

            "Shut up shut up shut up!" Ben yelled.  And then lowered his voice, "so where is all this money?"

            "Beats me," Dame shrugged.

            "You don't know?"  Sylor asked.  Dame shook his head.  "How can you not know?"

            "My dad threw the data pad with the directions to the money out the main hull of the space station," he said.

            "Thirty three billion credits," Sylor sighed.

            "That's enough money to buy my ship," Ben said.

            "That's enough money to buy Coruscant before the Yuuzhan Vong invaded," Moria replied.

            "Well I doubt that," Dame said.

            "I don't understand why money means so much to you humans," Threepio said, "it's just so materialist."

            "Well," Ben said, "we're living in a material world."

            "And I'm a material boy," Sylor said.

*~*~*~*

            The Mos Esra arena was huge.  All different species covered the stands, intermixed, none of them segregated.  Various creature pulled the Pods out to the starting line and the pilots began making last minute touches on their Racers.  One Pod floated in the air to it's starting point, and then sat down nicely.

            "Ben you idiot!"  Nike hissed, "I'm pretty sure that whoever is looking for us will know that you have the Force, and a floating Pod is a bit suspicious."

            "Stop being such a spaz," Damian told her, walking swiftly by.  He still wore the cape, and appeared completely oblivious to the fact that he looked like the stinking prince of Hapes.  Ben, Sylor and Moria followed him none of them finding a problem with floating a Pod around.

            _And they say us Force-blind are naïve, She thought, scowling at them.  Zero rolled up next to her and she leaned against him on her arm._

            "_You've got more brains then them," she said.  Zero tootled a reply and she smiled, happy that she still had the little droid._

            "Alright Chewie," Damian said as Nike settled into the Pod, "don't die, and win, I got a lot of money riding on you winning this."

            "Then I'll be sure to lose," she told him.  He rolled his eyes and handed her her helmet.

            "Break a leg," he said dryly.

            "You lose and I'll run you over with the Pod," Nord told her.

            "If you do die, can I have Zero?" Ben asked.

            "So what _exactly_ does your will say?" Sylor asked.

            "Now don't die," Threepio said, "because I'll be the one stuck explaining it Master Han."

            Nike sat through all their comments until they finally left to their seats.  She glanced over at the Pod beside her.  It was Sab'lou.  He looked at her and said something in his language that she couldn't understand, but knew it wasn't anything nice.

            "You're going down!"  She screamed at him, which wasn't the greatest kind of threat, but was something that her father would have said.  The announcer went on about the race and how it was three laps, and how with was the whatever year annual race.  Finally, he said, "Racers, start your engines."

            Nike did so, and the power of the Pod rumbled under her and shook.  The race would start at the sound of the gong.  Nike waited and waited, listening for the sound that would commence the race.

            The blood ran through her body at lightspeed.  There was an flittering feeling in the pit of her stomach that was both excited and nervous.  She took in a deep breath, trying to relax herself with some kind of trick that Uncle Luke had taught her, even though she wasn't a Jedi.

            And then there was the gong.

            Nike's reflexes weren't as fast as the other alien pilots, and so they surged forward just a second before she pushed down on the accelerators and shot forward.

            It wasn't just the beginning of a race.  But the beginning of her destiny.


	5. Chapter 5

Star Wars: Rise of the Sith

Chapter 5

            YES!!! NEW PEOPLE REVIEWED!!!  I love my reviewers, you guys are the best.  Rock on.

There's a big Podrace in this chapter and it'll probably suck because I'm not too good on action sequences, but know I tried.

* * *

  


            Nike instantly realized that there was a major difference between racing on an empty arena and racing in a full one.  There were other Pod racers and they were _all trying to kill her_.  They were all bunched together, and the girl felt as if she were in the very center of it.  Another Pod hit hers and caused her to feel as if her head had just been jerk off her.

            The Pods began to spread out as the made their way out of the arena and onto the course.  Nike searched for an opening between the Pods and found one.  She pushed down on the accelerators and streamed through it in a blur.  She wasn't sure what place she was in, but by the amount of Pods in front of her she knew it wasn't very good.

            The course led them into a cave, although this one had a lot more rocks in it then the one she had trained on.  She maneuvered around them, passing a Pod on her way.

            She exited the cave and found herself in a place that seemed more like a dream then anything else.  Great sculptures of dirt and rock towered above her, and had been worn away by the wind into peculiar shapes.  She had to weave in and out of them to make her way through.  One unlucky Pod was knocked into one of these rock formations, and exploded right in front of her.  Nike had no time to steer around it, so went straight through.  The heat singed the small hairs on her arms, but she couldn't think of that then, her whole mind was on the race.

            She moved forward in the line of racers, passing three more before entering a cavern that was thin enough that each racer had to go through one at a time, and quickly or the person behind you would gladly run you over.

            There were three Pods in front of her.  She had no idea who was in the other two, but she knew the leader was Sab'lou.  She was suddenly out of the cavern and into open desert again, and could see the arena straight ahead.

* * *

  


            "She's gonna die, she's gonna die, she's gonna die," Ben kept saying over and over as he paced back and forth.

            "She won't die," Moria said, not with any dryness or sarcasm, almost casually, but with something else in her voice, something almost mystical, "she'll be fine."

            "Here they come!"  Sylor declared, and Ben, Nord, and Moria all gathered around the edge to watch.

            "And its Sab'lou in the lead," the announcer called, bringing cheers from Sab'lou's fans, "followed by Remo then Sumo!  And look at that!  In forth place the human, Chewie Loso.  Most say that humans can't Podrace, well folks, look at this little girl."

            "I hear it's her maiden race too," the other announcer said.

            "GO N-CHEWIE!" Moria screamed.  Dame made his way over to the side and seemed to hold his breath as he peered down at the arena.

            "How's she doing?"  He asked.

            "Fourth place," Sylor told him, "didn't you hear."

            "I was too busy hurling out all the whiskey I drank because of our altitude," Dame explained.  Apparently he had some kind of fear of heights, as well as flying, which made him an oddball in this group.

            "This is the most terrifying thing I think I've even seen," Threepio said and Zero toodled in agreement.

            Moria closed her eyes and focused on Nike.  Although the boys were using the holoscreen to watch her, Moria wanted to focus on her cousin in her mind.  She saw her there, going through the cave again, using some colorful words to describe her competitors who kept getting in her way.

            Remo was pegged by a falling rock, which ended some of Nike's trouble, but she still had Sumo and Sab'lou to worry about.  As they approached the cavern Nike was riding alongside Sumo, who tried numerous times knocking her Pod, but it didn't steer her off course.

            They were side by side right up to the cavern where one would have to pull up.  It would have to be Nike because she was more off course then Sumo.  But as they got closer and closer Moria began to worry.

            _Pull up pull up!  Nike you idiot PULL UP!_  She knew that she couldn't send these thoughts to Nike, but she thought them anyway.  And right before she thought her cousin was going to die, Nike turned the Pod sideways.

            The crowd went wild.  One announcer was in utter shock while the other was screaming his head off.  Dame looked as if he would faint, Nord laughed, Ben swore loudly, Threepio had a panic attack and Sylor just stared with his mouth open at the holoscreen as Nike somehow navigated, in a Pod, through a canyon, in a space hardly wider then a meter, on her side.  And the question everyone in the arena suddenly thought, all at the same time was:

            Is that possible?

* * *

  


            _Sith sith sith sith sith sith,_ Nike cursed over and over in her head as she drove through the cavern.  She tilted her head up a bit and saw Sumo's engine right in her face.  _SITH SITH SITH!!!_  She screamed in her head, pretty sure that this was the end and that she was going to die.

            Finally she was out of the cavern and turned back normal, cutting in front of Sumo and causing him to run into a big rock.  Now it was just her and Sab'lou.  She took a deep breath and pushed the accelerators in some more, and sped up to catch him.

            She looked over at him in his rather large Pod and he looked down on her in her rather small one and she wondered why in all of Alderaan's graveyard he would want her Pod when he had his.

            They entered the arena, side by side and left it in the same fashion, all the inhabitants standing and cheering and Nike wondered which voices were her friends'.  Not that she could even hear that well with the sound the Pods were making.

            They were out of the arena as swiftly as they had entered and the two Pods soared across the field.  Sab'lou began bumping her and she would have loved to bump him back, but had tried once, and her Pod being so much smaller, it had only gotten _her_ bumped out of the way.

            She was behind Sab'lou again and she was pretty sure she heard him call her "bantha fodder" which she took as meaning something not-very-nice, but wasn't one of the curse words she remembered her father ever saying when the _Falcon_ wouldn't work.

            Sab'lou knocked a rock sculpture with his Pod so that it would come down on her.  She was forced to swerve way out of the way to avoid it, and watched as Sab'lou entered the canyon.  She growled and shot forward.

            And that's where things went wrong.

            The rocks hadn't stopped falling and she got off her safe course and headed straight under them.  One rock came down and crashed into her Pod.  The Pod swaggered and she tried to straiten it out, but then notice something funny.  The Pod wouldn't turn.  The rock must have damaged the axle.

            _Emperor's kriffing vaping poodo black bones!_  She swore fiercely, trying to straighten out her jammed Pod.  She held her breath as she entered the canyon lopsided, banging its walls, which caused her to actually straighten a bit.  

She blew out her breath and focused on going faster.  She would have to be close enough behind Sab'lou that she could pass him as soon as they got out of the canyon.  She accelerated quickly, trying to gain on him, and when she was right behind him she pulled back on the accelerator.

Or she tried.  The sticks just sat there.  She yanked back on them, trying to slow her Pod down, but the most they did was give a rusty squeak.

"_Sithspawn!_"  she screamed out loud, and her mouth was instantly filled with dust.  She tried to spit it out and then her jammed "sithspawn" Pod hit the back on Sab'lou's.

He tried to accelerate, but she had somehow gotten attached to his Pod.  He turned and screamed at her, but she ignored him, contemplating if she should jump out and hope she didn't die, or cover her head and hope she didn't die.

She chose the latter.

            There was a sickening wrench of metal being ripped apart and an explosion over her head that was one of Sab'lou's engines getting ripped off.  She was under Sab'lou's Pod almost entirely, ducking her head and wondering if there was anything she could do to still win the race.

            _You idiot!_  She screamed at herself, _don't think about the race!  Think about your vaping LIFE!_  She couldn't though, even though she wanted to live, the thought that she might lose the race…well, it was just more reason for her to go to boarding school or to do what her parent's wanted her to do.

            She was going to win this race, or she was going to die trying.

            Since Sab'lou was pretty much doing all the steering for them, and couldn't squash her because it was _her_ engines that were keeping him running, at least while they were in the canyon, so Nike bent down low and began to feel around where the accelerator sticks met the floor of the Pod.  She felt for whatever was keeping the sticks from working.  

Her fingers hit something that was smooth and somewhat squishy and her mind was instantly drawn to just a few hours ago and Ben and Sylor ignoring her order to not eat in the Pod and dropping their sticky…whatever they had been eating in the Pod, and then neglecting to clean it up.

            _I am going to kill them_, she told herself, and began trying to peel the disgusting stuff off.  She worked as fast as possible, and ripped it off the whole way just as the Pods shot out of the canyon.  Nike yanked back on her sticks and the Pod pulled back, ripping itself away from Sab'lou's.  His hit the ground, and then bounced back off and burst in to flame.  She shot forward, through his flaming engines and watched as his cockpit bounce next to her and he screamed at her.  She continued on, not even sure if she could slow down or even steer, but knowing that she had won the race.

            She wanted to scream with joy, but after her last experience with opening her mouth she refrained.  She entered the cheering arena and cut off her Pod, and it made a loud sound that was it either dieing or backfiring.  She flinched, but was suddenly pulled out of her Pod by Sylor and Ben, who were jumping around and yelling something about money and a ship.

            Moria rushed up and hugged her, and Damian pulled her helmet off roughly.  Her face was dusty, expect for around her eyes where her goggles had been, which Sylor pointed out, made her look like a nerf.

            Nike just smiled and hugged them, happy that she was actually alive, but thrilled to be a proven pilot.

* * *

  


            "Dad."

            "Not now Lane."

            "First off, I'm Launie, which I know we're identical twins but sith, I _do_ have a massive white strip in my hair, thanks to you.  Which by the way can I get that dyed?"

            "No.  And don't say sith."

            "Thought you'd say that.  So anyway, I was wondering if maybe I could be let off command room duty for a while."

            "No."  He heard the exasperated sigh that was something he normally heard from Nike or Ben, the exasperated teenager sigh, and he suddenly found himself fearing that his daughters were older then he thought.  But when he looked up he was relieved to see nine-year-old Launie with her arms crossed and all her weight on one foot- the pose her mother often took when vexed.

            Jag was lying on his back under his clawcraft, trying to make some repairs on it before any other attacks occurred.

            "But _Dad_ it's so _boring_," she moaned, "Can't I help you work on a ship or _something?_"

            "Look honey, I know that you want to be down here helping with the ships, but your mother and I believe it's safest for you and your sister if you're in the command room," he explained to her.  Launie scowled even more.

            "It's not fair, Moria's only three years older then me and she gets to hop around the galaxy, and I'm stuck in the command room," she said.  Jag sighed a rubbed his temples, leaning his head against the cold floor.

            "Moria wasn't _supposed_ to go 'hopping around the galaxy' as you very well know.  She and the others did it without permission and will get in trouble for it," he explained.  "And _if_ you even _think_ about following their lead and dragging your sister and Reuben along with you on whatever you're planning out in that mind of yours, I will personally drag you by your ears all the way to Bastian and you can just stay there with your grandfather."  Launie flinched and Jag smiled.  The suggestion that she might have to live with General Baron Soontir Fel was enough to shut her up.

            "Dad, am I ever gonna be able to do anything fun?"  She asked.  Jag sat up and rested his arms on his knees and squinted up at his daughter.

            "Do you really think this is all just fun?"  He asked her.  She sighed and sat next to her father.

            "No, but it's a lot better then sitting around listening to Lane talk about senators and her cuticles all the time," Launie told him, "I want to be out there were the action is.  I want to be doing something helpful.  I know that I'm strong with the Force, but what good is it if I never get a chance to use it.  There's a whole herd of Sith out there, some of them my age, and I should be fighting them, not sitting around."

            "Well, young Jedi," Jag said, "you need to have patience."

            "Now you sound like Mom."

            "Well, your mother's a very wise woman."

            "Then why was she hurling in the 'fresher this morning?"

            "Well, when your mother's pregnant there's a lot of things that make her feel sick," Jag told her.

            "Like what?"

            "Well…lettuce, for some reason, it doesn't even really taste like anything, but she won't let it near her until she's had the baby.  Canned nerf is another thing."

            "Canned nerf makes everyone except for Grandpa Han and Nike want to hurl," Launie informed him.

            "Hey, I used to like that stuff before I saw your mother puke it up once," Jag replied with a smile, "that was when she was pregnant with you and Lane."  Launie nodded absently, her mind some place else.

            "What are you thinking about?"  He asked her.

            "Well…I was just thinking…how exactly _did_ mom get pregnant?"

            "Well she um…" Jag coughed, and Launie noticed that he was getting quite red.

            "I'll ask later," she suggested, and felt her father relax.

* * *

  


            Nike slipped over the side of her bed, her stiff body aching with every movement.  She had never expected Podracing to be so exhausting.  Her whole body hurt, and she wasn't even sure what she had done to make it so.

            "You're up," Nike looked over groggily at Moria, who had just walked into the room.

            "Yeah," she murmured, rubbing her eyes.  She fumbled around on the bed stand for her wrist chrono, and found it floating towards her.

            "Thanks," she said to Moria.

            "No problem," her cousin replied, releasing the watch.

            "Force, it's thirteen hundred hours already," Nike moaned, running her fingers through her hair and realizing how greasy it was.  "I feel so gross."

            "You look gross too," Moria replied with a smile.  "The 'fresher's open so you might want to take advantage of that."

            "You got it," Nike replied and stood up.  She limped over to the door and scowled at Moria, daring her to laugh and her awkward walk.

            She got into the fresher and stripped herself of her clothes.  She turned the water on and let the warm beads fall on her rough skin.  She lathered herself in soap and shampoo, rubbing off layers of dust.  She breathed deeply, enjoying every moment of it.  So much in fact that she didn't even hear the door open.

            "GRAH!"  She jumped back, hitting the wall of the 'fresher and looked over to see Damian, who was trying desperately to get out of there and close his eyes-and his mouth-all at the same time.

            "_Get out!_"  Nike screamed, trying to find something to cover herself with.

            "Sorry!"  Damian cried and got out of the 'fresher as quickly as he possibly could.  The door shut and Nike found herself actually trembling, and knew that her face was red, and it wasn't the warm water.

* * *

  


            Dame walked swiftly away from the 'fresher.  He had just walked in on a _very_ naked woman.  He looked at the ground, knowing full well that he was blushing like crazy.  He cursed himself for not knowing that she was in there, seeing how he should have sensed her through the Force.  If she had locked the door he would never have even gotten in, so it wasn't entirely his fault.

            "You're as red Hapan tree fruit," Ben informed Dame when he entered the front room.

            "Shut it, Skywalker," Dame ordered.

            "I didn't know Sith blushed," Sylor mused.

            "I'm not a Sith and I'm not blushing.  It's just hot."

            "Yeah," Sylor said, rolling his eyes, "and I'm not an orphan, my parents are just dead."

            "I swear if that blush has anything to do with my sister you're a dead man," Ben warned.

            "It's doesn't," Dame replied.

            "Good."

            "And the Dark Lord of the Sith admits to blushing," Sylor broadcasted.

            "Shut up."

            "Alright ladies," Nord said, waddling in, "break's over, get back to work." 

            "You know Nord," Dame said, "I've got enough money that I could buy this little shack and then _you_ would be working for _me._"

            "Fine by me, then I wouldn't be paying the taxes for this place," Nord said.  Dame and Ben exchanged smirks.  "Ben, when you getting your ship?"

            "Later today," Ben replied, running his fingers through his sweaty auburn hair.

            "And what are you planning on doing after you get this ship?" Nord asked.

            "I don't know," Ben shrugged.  "I want to explore the galaxy, but I can't ignore the fact that there's a war going on.  There's so much I want to do, but adventure seems so far off."

            "Have patience, young Skywalker," Dame said, "your destiny will unfold itself in due time."

* * *

  


            "You're out," Moria stated when Nike entered their room, with only a towel on and her dirty clothes in her hand.

            "That was the most beautiful thing that's ever happened to me," Nike sighed, throwing the clothes on the floor and looking for something clean, "except for the part where Damian walked in on me."

            "Ah.  So that was the 'grah!' I heard from Dame earlier.  Too bad it wasn't vice versa."

            "That's disgusting." Moria laughed.

            "No, what's disgusting is your butt hanging out of your towel."

            "That hurts."

            "Just get dressed.  I need to talk to you and I can't do it when you're naked."

            "Ooo…serious stuff."  Nike stumbled into her breeches, hopping around the room on one foot, trying to get them on.  Zero sat in the corner, watching her curiously, wondering if all humans put their coverings on so.

            "I've been having more visions," Moria admitted, plopping down on her bed.  Nike pulled on a white long-sleeved shirt.

            "Of the future?"  Moria nodded.  "Well don't all Jedi get those?"

            "Not like I have," Moria explained, "they're in my dreams, in my every thoughts.  They come randomly, I can't control them.  Nike I…when you were Podracing I…I saw the entire race.  I saw you pass Sumo and I saw you and Sab'lou get tangled….I knew what was going to happen before it even transpired."

            "So you're like what…a seer, or something?"

            "I don't know," Moria said mournfully.  After a moment she opened her mouth again, as if to say something, but then shut it quickly.

            "What?  What is it?"  Nike asked.

            "I've…" she didn't seem to trust herself to speak, "Nike…I saw Anakin."

            "What?"  Nike asked, clearly taken aback.

            "He was…I saw Anakin on Hoth."

            "Hoth…what?  Moria, Anakin's dead, he has been for like, fifteen years."

            "I know…that's why…"

            "That's why what?"

            "That's why I think we need to go to Hoth."

* * *

  


            "I would love to say that I'm young enough to go on these sort of missions," Corran Horn confessed to Kyp Durron as the came out of hyperspace, "but I fear my age is beginning to catch up with my body."

            "I follow that course," Kyp said with a smirk.  Corran looked over at the slightly younger Jedi Knight.  It hadn't been too long ago, during the Yuuzhan Vong war, when he remembered having a conversation with Mara about subtle ways to kill Kyp.  They had been joking, of course, but back then Kyp had been an overconfident, arrogant, annoying slime ball that thought that he knew everything and could do anything.  Apparently though, and fortunately, some sense had gotten knocked into him during the war.  Now he was a highly respected Jedi, even a member of the Jedi Council.

            Luke had selected Kyp and Corran for the mission to Hoth.  Corran wasn't exactly sure what to expect when they arrived, apart from the cold, but he knew that it wouldn't be good.  The fact that there was cloning sent chills up his spine.  The Emperor and Darth Vader had done a lot of damage when there had just been the two of them with clones.  Corran hated to imagine the damage these clones could do when there were dozens of Sith.

            "We've still got a good day till we reach Hoth," Kyp informed him.

            "Good," Corran said, and kicked his feet up on the control panel in front of him and shut his eyes, "I could use a nap."

            "You've had about ten already this morning, grandpa," Kyp pointed out dryly.

            "Shut up."

* * *

  


            _My name is Anakin and I died_.  Was this true?  He was sure it was.  He had been sitting in his dark cell, wondering where he could possibly be.  His mind had been very jumbled, but he had finally realized that he was a Jedi Knight named Anakin Solo, and that he was supposed to be dead.

            _But this isn't how I remember being dead a few days ago._  Actually, before he had found himself in this cell, he could vaguely remember having a heated conversation with Obi-Wan Kenobi about which hyperdrive motivator could make the jump faster, a T-17 or a BN-34.  Of course it was the BN-34, but Obi-Wan was too stuck in the Old Republic to know anything about the latest hyperdrives.

            He leaned against the cool wall and his body ached with his movement.  _Well it has hardly ever been used…unless this is my old body…I don't think that's possible._

            He wished that he knew where he was, or when he was, or why he was even thinking these thoughts.  He should be part of the Force.

            _But they're coming_, he knew that 'they' were coming, but wasn't sure who 'they' were.  Something inside him just told him that someone was coming.  He closed his eyes and allowed himself to sleep.

* * *

  


            "Nike!  Moria!  Come look!"  Nike and Moria stopped their conversation and glanced over at the door, as if Ben was actually standing at it.

            "I wonder what's going on," Moria pondered.

            "You mean you don't 'see' it?"  Nike joked.

            "You are so cheesy," Moria rolled her eyes and walked out.

            "Come on, Zero," Nike said to the droid as she grabbed a black vest and walked out the door, putting it on.  His dome revolved around to look at her and he toodled before moving his body around and rolling after her.

            Nike followed Moria out to the back lot and by the mounds of parts that had become somewhat more organized in the time Moria had been there.  The girls walked out the back opening of the walled-in lot, where Nord and Damian were watching Ben and Sylor run around the outside of a ship, running their hands along it and examining every corner.

            "Wow," Nike breathed.  The ship was beautiful.  The shinning metal gleamed as the rays of the twin suns hit its surface.  It was sleek with an arrow shape, rounded along all sides but the front, where it was pointed.  Twin engines stuck out near the back on either side.  The ramp into the ship was opened and it's end set in the dust.

            "So where's the three gun rooms?"  Moria asked dryly.

            "You can't see them from out here," Ben snapped back, "but there's one on the belly, one on top port, and one of top starboard."

            "So where to the guns come out?"  She asked.  Ben ran excitedly to the bottom of the ship.

            "Right here, they only come out when you need them, it makes the ship look nicer.  Right here is where the one-way window.  The gunner can see you but you can't see the gunner," he explained.  Moria nodded and Nike headed up the ramp.

            "Let's see her insides," she suggested.

            "Just don't break anything," Ben ordered.  Nike entered into a small corridor that reminded her of the Falcon's corridor, except not as rickety looking-if her father had known she thought that she would be disowned.  The corridor led two different ways, and Nike chose the one that led towards the front of the ship.  She quickly came to a three way fork, one path behind her, leading to what could only be the sitting area of the ship, and the other two were right next to each other, both leading into cockpits with two seats.  Why someone felt the need to make two cockpits was beyond her.

            Her impatience prevented her from actually exploring the cockpits more, and hurried her to see the rest of the ship.  The living area was large with a semi-circle couch-much like the _Falcon's_, with a dajarik table in the middle.  Another couch was up against the adjacent wall, next to a doorway.  Peering out it she saw that it led her right back to where she had started.

            She walked to the back of the sitting area, where there were two rooms.  One was a kitchen-which Damian was exploring with great earnestness-the other was a med center.  Since doctors and medical centers made her queasy she decided not to explore that room.  Back beyond the med center were two bunkrooms, each with a refresher station.  She left the rooms and came back to the sitting area, where Zero was kicking Sylor's butt in dajarik.

            "Blast it you stupid pile of rust!"  Sy snapped as Zero killed one of his players.

            "Remember playing that with Lowie?"  Moria asked.

            "Yeah, we'd always let him win," Ben recalled.

            "Threepio always told us that if we didn't let Wookies win then they'd pull our arms off," Nike laughed.

            "A word of advice I received from your father, actually," Threepio informed them when he entered.  "I must say that this is a very nice ship you have Master Ben."

            "Thanks," Ben smiled.

            "I was expecting something more like the _Falcon_," Nike's head shot up and she glared at the droid.

            "Are you saying the _Falcon's_ not good or something?"  She growled.  If he had been able too, Nike was sure Threepio would have blinked his photoreceptors at her.

            "I beg your pardon?"  Threepio asked.

            "You know what I-"

            "Drop it Nike," Ben said.

            "He's vapin' my ship!"

            "_Your_ ship?"  Her cousins and Sylor asked in unison.

            "Yeah, _my_ ship.  Inheritance anyway," she shrugged.

            "What makes you think you're inheriting the _Falcon_?"  Sylor asked.

            _Bad move_, Moria told him mentally.

            "_What is _THAT_ supposed to mean_?!"  Nike boomed.

            "Uh…"

            "Hey Sy, the droid just kicked your nexu's butt," Damian said through a mouthful of food, "you died."

            "Who _else_ would get the _Falcon_?"  Nike growled.

            "Well you do have two other siblings…"

            "So?  They're old.  They don't need a ship.  Jacen couldn't fly it anyway, and Jaina has the _Queen_."

            "What about Lane and Launie?"  Moria said.

            "Yeah, or Padme?" Ben said.

            "_Padme_?"  Nike hissed, "you think that _my own father_ would give his ship to a _three-year-old_ and not to his own daughter?  And Lane?  Please.  When Lane wants the _Falcon_ I'll change my name to Jabba the Hutt and eat large amphibians."

            "But there's still Launie," Sylor pointed out, "and she's looking to be a great pilot too.  I mean, how can she not with the parents she has."

            "Yeah, well I can pick her off easy enough."

            "YOU CAN'T KILL YOUR OWN NIECE!!"  Ben cried.

            "I was joking you womp rat," Nike said, rolling her eyes.

            "So anyway, were should we take this thing?" Sylor asked.  The question prompted everyone on board-minus Nord-to sit down and think.

            "I'm thinking Hoth," Nike said.  Moria shot her a glare.

            "Why Hoth?"  Ben asked.

            "Isn't that the really cold place?" Sylor asked at the same time.

            "I had a vision," she said dryly.

            "You shouldn't joke about the power of the Force," Damian warned her.

            "Sure," she rolled her eyes, "anyway, I didn't have the vision, which I'm sure you all knew, Moria did."  All head's turned to Moria, even Nord, who was sensing that this vision thing might be some kind of a big deal.

            "You've had a vision?"  Ben asked.

            "Well…um…" Moria stammered, "not _a_ vision.  I've had lots."

            "Lots?!"  Ben declared.  "Why didn't I know about this?  Does Mom know?  Does Dad?  How come Nike knew and not me?  Why-"

            "Chill, Skywalker," Sylor commanded, "I'm sure Moria had her reasons for not telling us, I mean, it's just some visions, it doesn't make her a seer or anything."  Nike coughed.  "Oh I suppose you've suddenly been endowed with some kind of knowledge of the Force to be able to cough like that at my statement."

            "I think we should let Moria explain this," Damian said, before Nike could open her mouth and start a fight with Sylor.

            "Well," Moria said as all eyes turned to her, "I've been having all sorts of visions, and not just during meditation, or when I'm attuned to the Force, all the time I have them.  I saw Nike win the race before it happened, I…the whole reason I suggested that we should come here instead of Coruscant was because of Dame, and Nord, I knew we'd meet them, and I knew Ben would get his ship, and…I've seen us on Hoth, and I know that's where we need to be."

            "I'm not so sure," Ben said, "sometimes visions can be misleading.  Remember when Jacen told us about how he had a vision of his freeing slaves early on in the Vong war, and then almost died and Dad had to come save him?  The same thing could happen."

            "Besides, what's going on at Hoth that's so important?"  Sylor asked.

            "Cloning," Damian's words demanded attention for the entire group.

            "Cloning?"  Nike asked.

            "I'm not talking Stormtroopers, unfortunately," Damian said gravely.

            "What exactly are they cloning?"  Sylor asked.

            "Everything," Damian said, "Yuuzhan Vong, more Sith, old Admirals, everyday people, workers for the Empire, pilots, smugglers, bounty hunters, they've got more bounty hunters then I'd ever want to see."

            "How…" Nike couldn't even finish the rest of her sentence she was so stunned.  Was this true?  It couldn't be.  It was impossible.

            "Scientists-blast them all-they found a way so that they only need any small essence of a person and they can duplicate them.  And if you can duplicate someone once you can do it again, and again.  For all we know they could have parsec full of Grand Admiral Thrawns."

            "I still don't understand," Ben said.  Damian sighed deeply.

            "Look, they…mold bodies I guess you could say.  They make them look just like the original.  The only trick is, you gotta be able to put what that person knew into their head…"

            "Go on," Nike urged, wanting to know how all this was done.

            "There are Sith who can…communicate through the Force with those who have already passed on to the Force."

            "You mean they can talk to dead people?"

            "There is no death, only the Force," Damian said almost absently, causing Nike to wrinkle her nose, "Anyway, if the host is willing then they can be transmitted, in a way, into the body of the clone, making themselves alive once again."

            "You gotta be kidding me," Nike muttered.

            "I wish I was.  But, if the host chose to be alive again, then only one of them can be made because only that one would be able to hold their unique qualities that they are being used for.  But, if the host decides to stay apart of the Force, they can give their knowledge and wisdom to any number of different clones."

            "So who all's been cloned?"  Ben asked.

            "Um…I'm not exactly sure, they keep all that confidential," he said.

            "You have to at least know a few," Nike said, sensing that there was something more.

            "Thrawn has stayed a part of the Force," he said, looking at the ground, "so clones of him are coming out our armpits.  Bobba Fett also stayed with the Force, Darth Maul is alive and kickin'-"

            "Who?" Ben and Moria asked in unison.

            "Some Zabrak Sith from the Old Republic, he's rather grumpy," Damian continued, "but that's about all I know."

            "There's something else," Nike tried to meet his eyes, he fought not to look at her, but her eyes demanded that he look into them, "tell us."  He took a deep breath and looked at her squarely.  He wasn't sure how what he needed to say would affect her, but he couldn't see it being anything too great.

            "You wouldn't happen to be related to an Anakin Solo would you?"

* * *

  


            Thanks for the reviews!!!!  I actually proof read this time!!!


	6. Chapter 6

Star Wars: Rise of the Sith

Chapter 6

            I had two pages left.  And most of it got deleted.  So I wrote it again.  And most of it got deleted.

            Sorry for the wait.  I'm on my third try.

*******

            Ben shifted uncomfortably in the copilot seat of unnamed ship.

            The _copilot_ seat.  _Not_ the pilot's seat.  Occupying that was Nike.  She had said that she should take the pilot's seat so that he could better see the functions of his newly acquired ship.

            In Nike, that translates to: I'm screwing you with my persuasive ways so that I can manipulate you into letting me pilot your ship while you sit next to me and think about how stupid you are for buying it.

            Ben, Nike, Sylor, Moria, Dame and the druids had left Coruscant the next morning after their conversation.  Nord had promised not to tell anyone where they were headed too, as long as they promised to come back and see him.

            "Everyone strapped in?"  Nike asked over the comlink, "we've about to make the jump to hyperspace."

            "Hyperspace?" Damian moaned, "Why would we want to do that?"  Nike rolled her eyes in annoyance, and Ben just laughed at Dame's dislike of flying.

            "Well we can just spend the next twenty standard years possying our way across the galaxy," Nike suggested sarcastically.

            "Just shoot me out the back hatch," Dame wailed.

            "Why did you come?"  Nike snapped.

            "Because he's a valuable asset to our mission," Moria explained.

            "How?"  Nike asked, "All he can do is swing a stick around."

            "Alright, any more comments about Jedi and the Force and I'll show you 'swinging a stick' and it'll be near your head," Ben threatened.

            "Okay, everyone strap in, jumping in three, two, one," the bright stars quickly swirled into the familiar strands of smeared light as the ship blasted into hyperspace.  Nike waited a moment for her body to adjust to the new speed before she stood up and walked into the sitting area, where Sylor was desperately trying to beat Zero in another dajarik game.

            "So how long should this take?"  Moria turned away from her datapad and asked.

            "Well…" Nike said, "It'll take about two days to reach Hoth."

            "I'd say that if we just get in there, grab Anakin, and get out, then it'll take a good three hours on Hoth," Ben said.

            "What?"  Dame asked, "Three hours?  Are you out of your mind?  Do you have any idea how tight security is around there, and yeah, you are a Jedi, but they're Sith, they've got all your powers and then some.  It's gonna take a while.  We gotta plan this out good."

            "Dame's right," Moria said, "this isn't some game.  We could get killed."

            "To you foresee us getting killed?"  Nike asked.

            "The dark side clouds everything," all four Jedi told her in unison.  Nike furrowed her brow in annoyance, and went into the kitchen.

            All her life she had been around Jedi, and yet she still could not understand them.  Their devotion to the Force, something that Nike could neither see or feel, confused her.  She had depended on either herself or others her entire life and could never see herself putting faith in something she couldn't see.

            The one thing though, that she couldn't stand, was everyone in her family blabbing on nonstop about the Force and how she needed to be patient, and how she shouldn't hate, and shouldn't fight, and how she needs to think before she acts, and how that everything that she ever did could be done better through the Force.

            She grabbed some slices of bread out of the cabinet and then some sliced nerf out of the freezer.  She made herself a sandwich, and then walked back out to the sitting area to eat it, without a plate just to annoy Moria who was anti-crumb or something.

            "So anyway," Nike said, not bothering to swallow before she spoke, "what exactly am I going to be doing on this little trip?"

            "Staying in the ship with the droids," Ben said.

            "That plan's kriff, what else ya got?" She asked.

            "Nike, if you came along you'd just get in the way," Sylor said, causing her to scowl.

            "And how is that?"  She snapped defensively.

            "Well, you're not Force-sensitive," Ben said, "you have no weapon…you'd just be a fifth wheel."

            "Mistress Nike I must agree," Threepio said.

            "Well I don't," Nike snapped, "just because I'm not a Jedi doesn't mean I'm dead weight.  I mean, look at my Dad, or Jag-he could kick any of your butts any day of the week.  Or Wedge Antilles, or-"

            "Look Nike," Moria said, "we know that you don't have to be Force-sensitive to do great things, but it does help, and you're only fourteen."

            "And you're twelve, or do Jedi not age either," Nike snapped back.

            "Listen," Ben said, "we don't want to get into an argument with you about this, but really, if you came, what exactly would you plan on doing?"

            "Well I do have a blaster," she snapped, "so it's not like I'm weaponless, and I can fight, and I'm smart, I mean, who's the one who's been getting us out of trouble for the past…forever?  Me."

            "Yeah, and who's the one who is always getting us _in_ trouble?"  Ben asked, "You."

            "Look, I'm going, whether you all want me to or not," she said.

            "Nike," Ben sighed exasperated.

            "Ben, just let her go," Damian said, which surprised Nike that he was sticking up for her, "she could be useful.  I mean, we've all seen how she flies, if she fights half as good then she could help."

            "Thank you Damian," Nike said.

            "No problem Shorty," he replied, and she frowned at the name he insisted on calling her.

            "Alright," Sylor said, turning from the game he was loosing, "we have two days to figure out what exactly we're going to do, and how we're planning on doing it."

            "I can try to map out the area by memory," Damian suggested.

            "That'll work," Sylor replied, "Nike, you get weapons together, and the rest of us, let's practice with our lightsabers.  We gotta make sure we're ready for the Sith."

*~*~*~*~

            Han walked casually down the dusty street on Tatooine to a cantina in Mos Espa.  He hadn't been sure where to start looking on the planet for the children, but as soon as he heard of the Podrace, and knowing that his daughter had never given up the chance to see a starship race, he figured that this might be a good place to start.

            He had learned over the years that if you wanted to find someone then you should go to a bar, and so he walked into the _Singing Nerf_ and sat down at the bar, ordered a drink, and listened to the local chat.

            "-destroyed my crops and-"

            "-five for that blasted droid and it broke. Blasted Jawas."

            "-human that won the race-"

            "-lost fifteen credits on that piece of Bantha Fodder."

            Han's mind was brought back to the voice that had said something about a human winning a race.  He turned in his seat and looked around, trying to find whoever was speaking.  It was a Bothan talking to a Rodian, and he looked rather angry.  Han got up and walked over to their table.

            "What's this you're talking about?"  He asked them, not bothering to introduce himself.  The Bothan gave him a hard stare for a moment, and looked him over before speaking.

            "The human that won the Podrace last week," he replied shortly.

            "They gotta name?"  Han asked.

            "Sure," the Bothan shrugged, "Chewie Loso or something like that."  Han blinked.  He was a hard man to surprise, but _that_ shocked him.

            "Do you happen to know where there'd be any holos of the race?" He asked, trying to act unfazed.

            "Well it's the first time to my knowledge that a human's won a Podrace, so I'm sure there's a good deal of 'em.  You probably would need to check at the office down at the arena," the Bothan said with a shrug.

            "Thanks," Han muttered before walking off.  Chewie Loso.  He wasn't an idiot.  He had used fake names enough to spot one out.  The fact that Nike had chosen Chewbacca's nickname though, surprised him a bit, because she had never even know his former partner.

            More then that name though, the fact that she had not only entered a Podrace, but had won it.  Won her first Podrace.  A _human_ raced for her _first time_ and _won._  How did that possibly happen?

            _Well_, Han thought smugly, _she _is_ a Solo after all._

*~*~*~*

            Lane watched her sister stride back into the command room and straight over to the a computer, which she laid down under and began ripping different parts out of and rewiring.

            "So I take it he said no," she supplied, and got a grunt in return.  She and Reuben exchanged knowing looks, and turned back to their screens, waiting for the blow up.

            "I mean what a hypocrite," and there it was.  Launie came back out from under the computer and began her ranting.  "He was flying his claw craft around when he was half our age!"

            "Launie, we're nine, that means Dad would have been four and a half, I doubt that's true," Lane reasoned.

            "I don't care!"  Launie snapped, "We should be aloud to do _something_."

            "We are doing something."

            "I mean something important!" Launie snapped.  Lane opened her mouth to rely, but then shut it.  Launie was a hands-on person, if she wasn't doing something physically, then she wasn't doing anything.  Looking at the holonet and charts was not her thing.

            "We'll get our chance," Reuben said.

            "Yeah, when we're sixteen and this war's over," Launie muttered, "it's not fair."

            "You're thoughts betray you," Lane jumped, not at Master Luke Skywalker's sudden appearance, but at her sister's surprise that sent a sharp spike into her through their Force-bond.  Launie wasn't surprised much, but when she was it sent Force-daggers into her twin, although she never knew that.

            "What do you mean?" Launie asked, recovering quickly.

            "I mean that you are focusing too much on the negative, and not on the positive of the situation," Master Skywalker explained.

            "There is no positive," Launie snapped.  Lane shot her a look that she deliberately ignored.

            "Only from a certain point of view," Luke explained, taking a seat in the chair next to Reuben, "and from a darker one at that."

            "So what are some positives?"  Launie asked.

            "Well your parents could have shipped you off to Coruscant with my kids," he told them.

            "Uh, news flash Uncle Luke, your kids aren't in Coruscant," Launie informed him.

            "I know that," he wrinkled his nose in brief annoyance of his children's escapades, "but if you two were along do you still think that they would have gone?  It's one thing to have their parents mad at them for putting their selves in danger, it's a completely other thing when they put other people's _young_ children in danger."

            "But it's not as if they would have made us go along," Launie said, "we would have wanted to go."

            "We?"  Lane and Reuben asked in unison.

            "Ah, but not from a parent's point of view," Luke continued, "think of it this way, you're nine, when most kids are nine they don't know anything about war and lightsabers and the dark side and things like that, you do, but your parents still see you as their innocent little babies.  So if a sixteen year old, like Ben, brought you two along on some adventure of his, then you would be Ben's responsibility.  Being nine, you might not know this, but Ben, Sylor, Moria, and Nike do, and they wouldn't have brought you along because you would be a teenager's worst fear: responsibility."

            "But I thought that teenagers wanted to be responsible?"  Lane asked.

            "Yes well, who understands teenagers anyway?"  Luke asked with a smile.

            "I guess," Launie said, still looking disappointed about her lack of action.

            "Anyway, I came over here to tell you all something," Luke said, standing.

            "And what's that?"  Reuben asked.

            "You three, Padme, Danni and Jaina are all going back to Yavin Four to the Academy," he said.

            "WHAT?!"  Launie screamed.  "Give me that whole big honkin' speech and then ship me off to the other side of the galaxy.  Sith, Uncle Luke, you can't do that."  Luke smiled and shook his head.

            "I'm sorry, but that's where you should be, training.  This is going to be a hard war, and one that'll we'll need all of our Jedi to work in.  You all need to get ready to face the Sith.  Not that it will happen any time soon, but I can guarantee that it will."

            "So we do get to fight?"  Launie beamed excitedly.

            "You shouldn't be so-"

            "I'm gonna go get my lightsaber and practice right now!"  Launie declared and hurried out of the room.  Luke watched her go and then turned back to Lane, looking a bit baffled.

            "You _guarantee_ it will happen?" Lane asked dryly.  Luke's face turned from baffled to a sly grin.

            "If it works," he winked at her, and then turned and left the room.

*~*~*~*~

            Nike sat in the pilots seat of Ben's unnamed ship with her feet up on the dashboard and her head tilted back in a daydream of space, ships, blasts, and explosions.  It was rudely interrupted by Ben bursting in.

            "I need your help," he said in a serious voice.  Nike sat up and he sat down in the copilot's seat and rested his hands on his knees, looking at her intently.

            As cousins, Nike knew that at one point, her and Ben would have to have one of these serious talks, but she always figured it would be after he did something stupid to his first girlfriend, and not when they were on a starship going to save her dead brother from evil clone makers.

            "What is it?"  She asked, bringing to her mind any knowledge or wisdom she had learned in her short fourteen years.

            "I need a name for my ship," he said.  Nike rolled her eyes and kicked her feet back up on the dashboard.

            "_That's_ what this is about?  Geez I thought that it was something important," she muttered.

            "This _is_ important," Ben insisted.  Nike rolled her eyes and sighed.

            "Look Ben, this is _your_ ship, not mine, I can't name it, it wouldn't be right," she told him.  Ben scowled at her for a moment before sitting back and putting on his "thinking face".

            "I just can't think of one," he confessed, "I mean, I've gone through my mind on every name I could possibly think of, and it's either taken or stinks like bantha fodder."  Nike wrinkled her nose, wondering how it was that everyone but her knew about this bantha fodder business.

            "Call it the _Skywalker Mobile_ for all I care," Nike shrugged.  Ben rolled his eyes and got up.

            "You," he said pointedly, "are zero help."  And then he left.  She smiled, kicked her feet up on the dash board, and shut her eyes.

*~*~*~*~

            Luther Slayner stepped out of his ship, the _Dark Flame_, and onto Tatooine's dry, dusty soil.  A small cloud of orange dust gathered in the air around his feet before settling again.  He peered off into the city in the distance.  He breathed in the air, and wrinkled his nose, unaccustomed to the dryness.  

            He looked over his shoulder at Sarleen Twi'blek, who was hopping out of the ship and coming to stand next to him.

            "Are you sure he's here?"  She questioned.

            "This is where I felt him," Luther said simply.  Dame was obviously trying to block him, but their extreme bond as twins kept them forever linked, even if in the smallest way.

            "If he has decided to leave to the Sith, you do know what must be done?"  He shot her a sharp look.

            "My loyalty to my father is much greater then my loyalty to my idiotic brother," he snapped, "I will do what I must for the Sith Order."

            "Good," Sarleen replied, just as harshly.  Luther may have been Lord Reth's son, but she still outranked him, and that required respect.

            "I can smell alcohol all the way from here," Luther complained, "what is this place called again."

            "Mos Eisley," Sarleen replied, "this entire planet smells like dust, alcohol and bantha fodder."

            "Then Dame would love it," he replied dryly.  Dame's taste for alcohol-although he didn't drink too much-disgusted his brother.  But like all of Dame's bad habits, it was just another way to show rebelling against his father who demanded order on a military level.

            With a wave of his hand, Luther called two landspeeders out to them.

            "Let's get this over with," he muttered, and they took off towards the city.

*~*~*~*

             Han Solo strode purposefully over to _Nord's Parts and Supplies._  After spending the entire day in getting the Mos Espa racecourse, and finding someone who knew where Chewie Loso was from, and figuring out just where this place is-because people on Tatooine aren't the most helpful ones-he had finally tracked her here.  And now he strode, undistracted, toward the building.

            As soon as he walked in, he was taken aback by the unusually cleanliness of the place.  While most Tatooine shops had piles of trash mixed in with heaps of ship parts, this one had nice stacks of parts organized into groups by their use, and there weren't cobwebs and dust stretched across the room.

            "Can I help you?"  A rough voice broke into Han's thoughts.  He turned to see a Besalisk-a rather large Besalisk-standing in an open doorway ahead of him.

            "I'm looking for a Chewie Loso," he said as casually as possible, "I heard she worked here."  Han barely caught the slight narrow of who he guessed to be Nord's eyebrows.

            He knew exactly who "Chewie Loso" was.

            "She's on extended leave," he replied shortly, "can I help you with anything?"

            "Where did she go?"  Han asked.

            "Do you really think that I'd just go and tell you where my employees are?"  Nord laughed.  Han pulled out his blaster and aimed it right in between Nord's eyes.  That made him stop laughing.

            "I want to know where she is," he said slowly and dangerously.  Nord gulped, and looked into Han's face.  He almost instantly furrowed his brow, and then his eyes got really wide, and then he laughed.  Han lowered the blaster off the Besalisk, and wondered if he'd gone insane.

            "Hey pal, what's so funny?"  Han snapped.

            "You're Han Solo," Nord replied when he was done laughing.

            "Yes…" Han said, unsure of where this was going.

            "By the way she talked about you I figured you didn't care whether she was on Coruscant or running around on the Sith's space station," he said.  Han frowned, and took a moment letting everything sink in before he spoke again.

            "She _was_ running around on the Sith's space station," he informed the Besalisk, "which is why her mother and I sent her to Coruscant, but she's too blasted hard headed to ever listen."

            "From what I hear it was Moria's idea to come here," Nord said.  Han rolled his eyes.

            "Moria?"  He asked, "If this was her idea then my name's Yoda and Nike can join the military.  No, Nike just probably convinced Moria that she'd get off easier then she would."

            "Sure," Nord replied, hardly convinced.

            "So, know that you know who I am, can you tell me where my daughter is?"  Han asked impatiently.

            "Sorry, no can do."

            "Why not?"

            "Because, they told me not to tell."

            "Listen buddy, this isn't some grade school girl's secret," Han snapped, "this is an angry father looking for his daughter, and you know where she is.  So tell me."

            "I can't," Nord said again, more forcefully this time, "but I can tell you that they're in a nameless Y7-88 Corellian flying east of here, with a three day head start."

            "Well thanks," Han said sarcastically.

            "I wish I could do more," Nord said, "but I can't turn on my word."  Han huffed, turned, and left the alien.

*~*~*~*~

            Anakin Solo stretched out with the Force.  He felt little life around him, and what he did feel was quite disturbing, but he sought to find someone he knew.  Perhaps Uncle Luke, or Jaina, or his mother.  Or maybe even Tahiri.

            He quickly diminished that thought.  Tahiri would probably be married, and very much over him by this time.  Still, he couldn't help but think of her.

            He focused instead on just finding anyone familiar.  It was hard, and he wasn't even sure if he'd recognize anyone.

            And then suddenly, he felt something.  It was a very light tap into some kind of great power and energy.  Someone who was very strong in the Force.  In it he felt familiarity, but it wasn't anyone he recognized.

            And then the person struck back at him with a Force shield.  Anakin was knocked across the room and into the stone wall behind him.  He groaned and rubbed his head, and found that the other person was inspecting him with the Force.  He fought the urge to knock them right back-he wasn't even sure if he was able to do that over their obvious distance.

            Why was this presence so familiar yet unknown to him?

            _Who are you?_  He asked, knowing that they wouldn't receive words, but hoped they'd get the general idea.

            _Who the dirt of Sith are you?_  It came back very forcefully, but _very_ clear.  As if the person-the girl, that much was apparent-were in the room with him.  He sighed, not wanting to tell some random person who he was, but figuring that he would rather have tea with Nom Anor than stay in solitude any longer.

            _Anakin Solo._  He imagined himself, and sent it to the girl.

            _WHAT?!_  Anakin grabbed his head and fell on the ground as sharp vibrations of surprise hit his mind like knives.  How was this girl doing this?  How was he having a conversation with someone he didn't even know?

            _I'm Anakin Solo._  He repeated, although fully aware that she heard him.

            _But you're DEAD!_  She informed him.  Anakin rolled his eyes: as if he didn't know _that._

            _It's a long story.  Who are you?  And how am I able to talk to you so clearly?_

            _So you're Anakin…_

            _What part of that is so hard to understand?  The Ana or the Kin?_

_            Don't get smart with me, Solo._  She snapped back, and for an instant, Anakin could see his sister there.  Jaina.  That's what was so familiar about this girl.  Jaina was part of her.  He was talking to his sister's daughter!  His niece!

            JAINA GOT MARRIED?!!!

            What kind of world was it out there?  He'd apparently missed a lot.  He felt back, to try to reconnect with her, but couldn't.  She was still there, but not as strong as she had been, she wasn't seeking him out.  In place on her openness there were stone walls.

*~*~*~*~

            Lane had always been the quieter of the two identical Fel twins.  Where Launie would yell, and make sure that everyone around her knew what she was feeling, Lane kept to herself, keeping all her thoughts and feelings inside, as if scared to say something.

            But now she wasn't scared, and Launie could see it in her one jade, and one brandy brown eyes.

            "Launie Fel," she started, in her dangerously harsh voice that was so much like their mother's, "let me get this straight. You think that stealing-excuse me-_commandeering_ Aunt Mara's ship is a way to prove to our parents that we can help out in this war and shouldn't be sent to Yavin Four?"

            "Exactly," Launie replied, she didn't see what was so hard to understand about that.

            "That's suicidal.  And _if_ Aunt Mara doesn't kill us, then Dad and Mom will," her identical pointed out.

            "You always look at the negative," Launie complained.  Reuben snorted, and she shot him a mean look.

            "Listen, Fel," Reuben said, "I know that when one of these ideas pop in your head, there's no stopping you, but don't expect _me_ to be _at all_ involved."

            "You two are so paranoid," Launie rolled her eyes, and ran her white strip of hair through two fingers.

            "Paranoid?  Or just not stupid?"  Reuben asked.  Launie groaned a sat down in her chair.

            "So maybe it _is_ a stupid idea," she snapped, "who cares?  I'm so _bored_.  I can't take this any more."

            "We'll be at the Academy this time next standard week, and you'll be having fun there running around and causing a scene."  She huffed at his weak attempt at making her happy.

            "I'm gonna go to the 'cademy," the three friends turned to the doorway, where Padme was standing.  Launie rolled her brown eyes and moaned.

            "Why don't you just go away?"  She asked.

            "Well whatdoya want me to do?  Jump out a window?"  The little girl snapped back.

            "Be my guest," Launie shrugged.

            "Come on you two," Reuben said, "let's not fight."

            "Well what else is there to do?"  Launie asked.

            "Really," Padme agreed, "I'm bored."

            "You're only three, you can't be bored."

            "I'm almost four, Bantha fodder, and I can too!"

            "Did you just cuss?"  Launie asked with surprise.

            "Yes I did."

            "Where did you hear that from?"  Reuben asked.

            "Daddy," was the solid reply.

            "Ha, wait'll Aunt Danni hears about that," Launie laughed.

            "Lane, what ch'a lookin' at?"  Padme asked, ignoring Launie.  Lane didn't answer, but continued to stare with intent brown and green eyes, down at the hanger blew through their window.

            "HelloOOoo," Reuben said, waving his hand in front of her eyes, "Coruscant to Lane, come in Lane."

            "I hear you," Lane mumbled, her eyes never moving.  Launie and Reuben exchanged glances, and then looked out in the direction Lane's eyes were aimed at.  The hanger looked exactly like it always did, nothing strange or different about it.

            "Lane, are you okay?"  Her sister asked in a serious tone.  There came no answer.

            "Lane, say something," Reuben ordered.

            "Lane, you're scaring me…" Padme whined.  Launie felt for his sister through the Force, and knew that she was feeling out somewhere, to someone else, but who that someone was she couldn't tell.  _That_ aggravated her.  How could Lane communicate with someone that _she_ couldn't?  They were twins after all.  Couldn't they do the same things?

            "Snap out of it!"  Launie snapped, and slapped her sister upside her head.

            "OW!"  Lane cried, grabbing the back of her head and glaring up at Launie.  She stood up quickly and glared at her twin.  Their eyes were perfectly even, and brown calmness was being hit with a green/brown glare.

            "What was that for?"  Lane snapped.

            "I thought you were going vegetable on me," Launie said.  "What were you doing?"

            "Talking to someone," came the simple reply.

            "But your mouth wasn't moving!"  Padme declared.

            "Through the Force," Lane clarified for her.

            "Who?"  Reuben asked.

            "Um…"

            "How?"  Launie asked, "we can talk through the Force, but that's because of our bond, how can you talk to some complete stranger?"

            "How do you know they were a stranger?"  Reuben asked.

            "I don't know…" Lane said meekly, "I don't know how I did it, it must have been him…"

            "Do you know who it was?"  Launie pressed.

            "I…I think it was Uncle Anakin."

********

            HAHAHAHA!!!! FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!  I'll get on the next chapter quickly!!!! 


	7. Chapter 7

Star Wars: Rise of the Sith

Chapter 7

            OH MY GOSH!!!!!  I just finished _Star By Star_, and I knew Anakin died and all, but reading it was so terrible!!!!

            It's not fair.  At least this way he's still young in my fic.

            "We're coming up on the planet Hoth," Nike announced to over the commlink.  "Everyone strap in and prepare for landing.  Ben and Sylor sat down in the second cockpit, and Moria sat in the copilot's seat next to Nike.  Damian stayed in the back with the droids, trying to hold his stomach as they entered the atmosphere.

            "So where exactly are we landing, Slayner?"  Nike asked.  When there was no response she repeated herself.  There was still no answer.  "Hey Damian, you dead or something?"

            "Ehh…I'm about to be," he moaned, and Nike rolled her eyes.

            "Come in here, you big baby, and tell help me with the coordinates."  Damian moaned, but a moment later appeared in her cockpit, and sat in the seat behind Moria.  He reached across and typed in some coordinates into the Navacomputer, and then sat back.  Nike looked over them and steered the ship onto the outskirts of that area.

            "We're here," Nike said as she sat the ship down on Hoth's snowy surface.  It was spring on this side of Hoth, but you wouldn't know it from looking around.  The only indication that this planet was in "the season of growing" was the fact that there wasn't a blizzard going on.

            "I don't see any cloning center," Sylor said sarcastically as they looked out the main hatch and across the snowy terrain.

            "Well of course you don't see it," Ben said, "it's underground."

            "Yeah, it's underground," Nike said, "on the other side of the planet."

            "WHAT?!"  Ben and Sylor cried together.  Moria's jaw dropped.

            "Why are we here and not there?"  Ben demanded.

            "Because," Damian said solemnly, "if you want to sneak around somewhere you don't park your ship right on the enemies doorstep.  You land away from them and make your way to them subtle-like."

            "Okay," Sylor snapped, "so in about a year or so, we can do just that!"

            "We have three speeder bikes, don't we," Nike pointed out impatiently.

            "You two could have at least told us," Ben muttered.

            "Damian didn't even tell me," Nike said, "I'm just not an idiot.  I figured it out using coordinates and Zero."

            "Yeah, yeah," Sylor muttered, let's go get those speeders."

            "Just stop and think about this for a moment!"  Launie pleaded with her sister.

            "Think about what?"  Lane snapped back and she made her way forcefully down the hall of the Space Station to the meeting room.

            "The fact that the rest of us can't feel Anakin, and you say you can, and if Uncle Luke and the others can't feel him, they're gonna think you're insane or something," Reuben pointed out, walking on the other side of her.

            "I'm confoosed," Padme said and she trotted behind the three older children.

            "Listen," Suddenly Lane was stopped and facing her twin with a very Chiss-like stare, "I heard him, and whether anyone believes me or not, it doesn't matter.  All that matters is that I find out why I can sense him."

            "Maybe you're not really sensing him," Launie said, "I mean, I can't, and we are twins."  Just as suddenly as she had stopped, Lane had wheeled around and was walking again.

            "_He_ contacted _me_," Lane said sternly, "we both know that I'm not that strong in the Force."

            "Yes you are," Reuben argued, "you just don't like admitting it because-"

            "Just shut up," Lane snapped over her shoulder, and without even bothering to knock or wait at the door, she pressed the turbolift button and walked through as if she owned the place.

            Very un-Lane like.

            Reuben, Launie, and Padme poked their heads in to see the Jedi Council, and more then a dozen military leaders all sitting around a large wooden table, looking at Lane with puzzlement.  Jag's gaze drifted from Lane to Launie, and his eyes narrowed on her, demanding to know what was going on.

            "Uh-oh, wrong room," Reuben said lamely, "guess the…'fresher's in that _other_ room…"

            "Is something wrong?"  Jaina asked in a mixture of maternal worry and annoyance.

            "I need to talk to Uncle Luke," Lane stated defiantly.  Launie-along with Reuben, Padme, and most of the others in the room-gapped at Lane as she marched over to where Uncle Luke was and stood in front of them.

            Launie looked at her mother and could see that she was doing all she could to keep from getting up and dragging Lane outside by her ears for talking to her like that.

            "Lane, we're very busy," Jag tried to put in, but he was ignored.

            "Uncle Luke," Lane said solemnly.

            "Yes?"  Luke recognized her, but seemed a little uneasy, probably because of the tension radiating from the group.

            "I need you to feel out in the Force for someone."

            Well, _that_ wasn't what anyone expected.  A few exchanged uneasy or confused looks, Launie's parents being one of them.  She swallowed the lump in her throat and straightened herself.

            "Lane, this was a bad idea," she said quietly.

            "I just want him to try," Lane replied, at almost a whisper.  She turned back to Luke and met his gaze evenly.  "I need you to reach out for Anakin Solo."  If the fact that a nine-year-old girl had barged in on a private military meeting had surprised anyone, then what she had said was on the level of a heart attack or stab in the chest.

            "Who?"  Luke asked back.

            "Anakin Solo."

            "Lane…" Luke looked up at Jaina, and then to Jacen, and then to Leia and Mara, anyone who might help him out here.  None of them could say anything.  "Lane, Anakin's dead."

            "Do it," Lane ordered, but this time it didn't seem strange.  Launie suddenly felt the Force flowing around her sister.  The Force was speaking for her.  It had been since they got in the room.

            Without another word, Luke-and every other Jedi in the room-reached out for Anakin.  A moment later, Luke opened his eyes again and looked at Lane.

            "I don't feel anything," he told her.

            Lane furrowed her brow at her uncle's response.  How was this happening?  How could she feel someone that no one else could?  She could barely hear her mother asking if she was all right, and hardly felt Launie take her hand.

            If they couldn't feel him on their own, then she was going to help them feel him.

            "Uncle Luke, take my hand," she ordered sharply.  Her uncle frowned at her, but did as told.  "I need you to focus with me.  Follow me."  The strange sensation covered her insides and pricked her skin again as she felt the Force flow through and out of her, reaching out in her voice to give it a milky texture.

            Uncle Luke was with her, so was a number of other Jedi: her mother, her grandmother, Launie, Reuben, Aunt Mara, Valin Horn, Uncle Jacen, and more that she recognized but couldn't name.

            She pulled them out off the space station and into space.  She searched for Anakin's aurora-his Force-sense.

            _Anakin_, she called out to him.

            _Ah, so you're back_, he said playfully, _I was beginning to think that you'd left me for good._

            _I brought some others with me…_

_            You did?  I can't sense them…_

_            But you could contact me.  Why would it be any different for them?_

_            Uh, just so you know, kiddo, _you're_ the one contacting _me._  Not the other way around._

_            What?…_

_            So anyway, you're Jaina's daughter._

_            How'd you know?_

_            I'm good like that._

_            You're cocky too._

_            I'm a Solo, what can I say?_

_            You sound like Nike._

_            Who?_

_            Oh, _that's_ gonna be a shocker._

_            What?!_

_            I'll talk to you again later.  Contact me if you need me._

_            Were you not listening?  I _can't_ contact you!  Only the other way-_

            She stopped listening to his then, and brought herself and the others back to the space station.  She opened her eyes to see the weary faces of the other people.  Apparently the whole experience had taken a lot out of them.

            "Lane-how did you-"  She heard a blurry voice say.  Suddenly she realized she didn't feel so good.  She tried to open her mouth, but nothing came out.  Why couldn't she talk?  She stumbled backwards, her eyelids suddenly heavy.  Her alarm senses were going off all over her mind.

            Why was she so tired?  How long had she been doing this?  The last thing she heard was her mother calling her name and she crashed to the ground, and the world went black.

            Nike cursed everything from the sky to the nexu of Cholganna for her misery as she trudged through the snow.  They had parked and hid their speeder bikes more then a kilometer back, and were walking the rest of the way in hopes of being inconspicuous.

            This was completely okay with her three comrades.  _They_ were Jedi, so _they_ were keeping warm with the Force.  _They_ sure didn't feel as if their noses were about to fall off.  But _she_ sure did.

            They had talked her into this.  This was all their idea, not hers, and they were paying desperately for it.  As soon as she could stop shivering enough to speak, she was going to give them, their Force, and their big, warm Sith and Jedi robes a piece of her mind.

            "Come on Solo!"  Sylor called back with an evil smile, "you're falling behind."  Nike pulled her hand out from under her armpit long enough to give him a rude, Corellian hand-sign, at which he laughed.

            "You know Nike," Ben called to her from the front of the group, "that offer for my robe still stands."  She murmured something that she wasn't even sure she understood, and continued walking.

            _Stupid, stupid Solo pride,_ she cursed as she lifted a boot high out of the snow and then back into it. 

            "Look!"  Ben called.  Nike looked out from the cliff they stood on and to where he was pointing to see what looked to be the remains of a Rebel hideout.

            "Oh, then we're-"  She never finished.  An Imperial model probe droid shot up from the edge of the cliff squealing.  That wasn't what shut her up though.  That was taken care of by Damian throwing himself on top of her and slamming her into the ground, with him still on top of her.

            "OW!"  Only came out after the blaster fire had already begun.  Ben was deflecting it with his lightsaber.  Sylor sliced through the droid and Moria pulled Nike up out of the snow while Damian brushed himself off.

            She had to give it to the Jedi: they were fast.

            "You okay?"  Moria asked.

            "I've been better," Nike muttered.  "I think there's snow in my bra."

            "Sorry about that," Damian replied.

            "Forget it," Nike grunted, limping away and trying to get the snow out of her clothes.

            "Well, that droid sent a signal to the inside," Sylor said, "no doubt about that.  We need to get cover."

            "Oh yeah," Nike snapped, "and how are we going to do that?  We're in a valley full of snow, without trees or any kind of shelter.  We're like a red Star Destroyer trying to hide in a TIE fighter compound, which by the way I've done, and it's doesn't work."

            "We can take the caves," Damian suggested.

            "Caves?"  Nike and Moria asked together.

            "You mean there's been caves this whole time," Sylor declared, "and you didn't think to mention them?"

            "I did think about it," Damian countered, "but they're infested with wampa ice creatures."

            "Then I'm not going!"  Nike snapped, "No one said anything about man eating animals on this trip!"  
            "I think we'll stand better chance against a few furry creatures then an army of Sith," Ben said, "and besides, the caves will probably be warmer."

            "Then let's go!"  Nike said instantly, pushing Damian forward.

            Luke Skywalker made his way down the dimly lit hallway on Calrissian Space Station to the Med. Center, where Lane Fel was unconscious on a bed.  As he walked, the only thought in his mind was how in the galaxy this nine-year-old girl had been able to not only contact someone who was presumed dead, and from a great distance at that, but to make communication with that person open to a group of other, fully trained Jedi, who had not such skills.

            "Uncle Luke," a small, but demanding voice interrupted the silence.  Luke turned slowly to see Launie Fel-standing in the Med. Center waiting room-who was as much confused about all this as anyone else, if not more so.

            "Yes?"  He replied, only half turned around.

            "What did Lane do?"  The little girl asked.  Her brown eyes gazed into his blue, full of question and confusion…and something else.  Something deeper and darker, but he couldn't put his finger on.

            "She…" Luke wasn't even entirely sure what had happened, "well, she took us, through the Force, to the other side of the galaxy…where it seems that…someone…is."

            "Oh…" She still looked confused.  He had probably messed things up even more for the girl.  "Well…_how_ did she do it?"

            "I'm not sure," Luke sighed, sitting down in a seat and motioning for Launie to sit beside him.  "Sometimes we end up having different strengths or powers then we thought or knew we had."

            "Yeah, but Lane and I are twins," Launie countered, "and so shouldn't we be able to do the same things?"

            "I don't know," Luke shrugged, "I just don't know."

            "Do you know if it's true?"  Launie questioned, "About who she was contacting?  Anakin Solo?"

            "I guess we'll find out," he replied, trying to give her a comforting smile, and only half succeeding.

            Lane Fel wasn't unconscious, and she was fully aware of her father snoring softly right beside her bed, and fully aware of the presence of her sister and Master Skywalker in the next room.  In her mind she could make out a complete map of where everyone on the space station stood.

            She lay there, faking unconsciousness, until she felt Uncle Luke and Launie leave.  Since there was no chance of her father leaving her side unless a full on attack by the Sith hit the station, then she decided that she would just have to get away with him there.

            She stood up and slipped off the bed, daring only a short glance at her father, just to make sure he was asleep.  She was still wearing her blue tunic and brown breaches, and just had to pull on her black boots before heading out of the room.

            She crept through the dimly lit hall towards the stairwell.  It was too risky for her to take the elevator, so she was going to take the long way, to ensure no one seeing her.

            She finally reached her destination-her suite.  After feeling around the room to make sure it was empty, she entered and ran into her and Launie's room.

            Lane wasn't quite sure how to do it, but she knew that she had to find out what was going on with her.  As soon as her parents and the other Jedi knew that she was awake, they would want to bombard her with questions, and that was something that she couldn't handle right now.

            Having a full conversation with anyone telepathically wasn't something to take lightly.  But it hadn't been her.  Lane closed her eyes.

            _Lane sat in the command room, listening to her sister and cousin bicker about something, when a strange, tingling sensation tapped into the back of her mind.  Frowning, she focused her mind on that spot, trying to figure out what was going on._

_            "So Lane Fel this is," an odd, rubbery voice said._

_            "Yes, this is her," another male voice, this one filled with wisdom and power._

_            A vision began to form from a blur of colors in her mind.  A little green creature was looking up at and old man with a white beard._

_            "Well, take her to young Solo," the green old snapped._

_            "Yes Master," the other replied, and with a wave of his hand, Lane was suddenly enveloped by a fading Force presence.  Fading not from lack of strength, but from something else._

_            "Who are you?"  The Force presence asked._

_            "Who the dirt of Sith are you?"  She retorted before she could even think._

            Lane opened her eyes again, realizing that she had finished packing her shoulder bag.  Those two people-the green one and the old man-were doing something to her, or they knew something about her.  The only way she could think of to find anything out about them, was to go to the Academy and look over what files they did have.

            She left a quick note for her parents on a datapad, and slipped out of the room.

            Anakin lay on his bad on the pitiful cot.  He stretched his feet up until they touched the ceiling, and then brought them back down flat.  He blew out a long breath that moved his bangs off his face, and then rolled over on his side.

            He was bored.  More bored then he had ever been before in his life.

            Life.  He couldn't believe that he was actually alive again.  I feeling of breathing new air into his lungs, and the feel of-

            His thoughts were interrupted by the sound on his door opening.  He looked over with a scowl as three silver droids stepped into the room, followed by two men in black robes.  Dark force energy was radiating off them like wildfire.  Flung his feet around the side of the bed and was almost standing when one of the men reached out a hand.

            "Sit," he ordered, and Anakin felt himself be pushed quickly down onto the cot.

            "Nice trick," he said with a smirk.  The man ignored him and turned to the droids.

            "Cuff him and bring him out," he ordered.  The droids came towards Anakin.

            "Oh as if I'm just gonna-" Anakin started, and tried to stand, but realized that he couldn't.  He couldn't even move.  He was hopeless and the droids picked up him immobile arms and cuffed them together.  The did the same to his feet.

            "Who are you?"  Anakin asked, trying his hardest to resist and failing, "and what the kriff did you do to me?"

            "In answer to the first question, we are the apprentices of Lord Reth Slayner of the Sith, the future Emperor of the galaxy.  My name is Klif Harwin and this is my associate Tork Morten."

            "Tork?"  Anakin asked mockingly, "no wonder you turned to the dark side."  He was answered with a blow in the head that left him moaning but not unconscious.

            "In answer to your second question, Tork has temporarily paralyzed you," Klif said, "and if it wasn't for my master wanting you alive and healthy, I would allow him to cripple you completely."

            "Alright…" Anakin said, collecting his thoughts, "now what was that about the Emperor?"

            "I am forbidden to speak of our plans to inferiors," Krif said, and gave a slight hand motion to the droids.  They lifted Anakin up and carried him out of the room.

            "So how did he temporarily paralyze me?"  Anakin asked.

            "My powers are none of your business," Tork snapped, "at least not until you embrace the dark side."

            "Fat chance," Anakin retorted sharply.  The Sith only smirked and continued on.

            "If this is warmer then outside then I'm-"

            "Nike, okay, I'm sorry.  I was wrong.  It's not warmer.  Sue me.  But you are wearing my robe, so I don't want to hear you complain anymore," Ben snapped back.  Nike scowled at him and stepped over a block of ice.

            She wasn't sure how far into this icy cave they had traveled, but she guessed it was more then a kilometer.  And she was not happy about that.  She hadn't complained too much, but she hadn't exactly inherited her mother's sense of endurance to such things either.

            She was mostly mad at herself for coming along on this stupid trip instead of staying in the ship like was suggested to her.  After all, she was a Jedi, or any kind of warrior for that matter.  She'd have to remember to talk to Aunt Mara about hand-to-hand combat and weapons training.

            "Hey, look!"  Moria called to the others.  The three other Jedi jogged over to her, and Nike tried, but ended up stumbling with every step.

            "What is it?"  Nike asked as she reached them.  She shut her mouth when she looked down and saw a huge room with machines all around it.  There were multiple conveyer belts, leading back to tanks.  Machines reached into the tanks and took out a dripping mold of some kind, which quickly turned into blue humanoids.  They were placed on the conveyer belts and sent down the line, to where droids tweaked them.  It was an assembly line for making blue people.

"They're cloning Chiss!"  Ben declared.

            "Well thanks for that, Captain Obvious," Nike muttered sarcastically.

            "They're all Thrawn clones," Damian said, giving Nike a warning look-which she ignored.

            "So this really is happening," Moria's voice trailed off.

            "Hey, check out the Sith," Sylor said, pointing.  It was then that the rest noticed the five Sith, overseeing the cloning.  There was a Mon Calamarian female, a human male, a human female, and two Twi'lek males.

            "I say we take out the Sith and figure out how they make their little, life-sized Dollies," Sylor said.

            "I'm in for that," Ben said.

            "Oh great, you bunch of geniuses," Nike snapped, "because it's not as if these Sith aren't fully-trained killers without mercy and loads of backup, and you guys are Jedi Apprentices with nothing for backup except me, and really, that-I'm humble enough to say it-isn't saying much."

            "I agree," Damian said, "I'm full Coreillian and all, so these stupid plans do spark some interest, but they wouldn't work.  Besides, I already know how the clones are made."

            "You do?"  Moria asked, and Nike demanded, "How," at the same time.

            "I'll tell you that later," he replied, "but for now, we need to consider the best and fastest way to get in there, get Anakin, and get out."

            "True," Ben nodded, "any ideas?"

            "First off," Nike said, "where is he?"

            "They're holding him in cell block Oh-Nine-Two.  That means that we're on the opposite side of the facility from him," Damian said.

            "Great," Nike muttered.

            "But, you see that door over there?"  He asked, pointing.

            "Yeah," Nike said, "what about it?"

            "You see, there's a secret passage to a secure hallway in this room," he told her, "it will lead us right to your brother."

            "So…"

            "So, we need a distraction to get there," he explained, and Nike raised an eyebrow, "so on the count of three, you're gonna make like lightspeed to that door.  Once you get through, you'll lock it.  There's an old command room in there, and when you get to it, you can connect a line to this comlink here, and then communicate with us."

            "Wait," Nike said, holding up a hand, "you think that I'm gonna be your little distraction?  I got news for you Slayner, there's no way-"

            "One."

            "-that I'm doing this, because-"

            "Two."

            "-you have two perfectly good legs-"

            "Three."  And then he shoved her over the side of the opening, and she hit a pile of melting snow that had fallen out of the cave.

            It took Nike a moment to realize what had just happened.  Damian had pushed her out of the cave so that she could distract the Sith.  The Sith that were running right for her.

            _Get to the doors!_  Something-or someone-in her mind screamed.  She did just that.  She got up, and bolted to the doors.  Damian was either a genius when it came to timing things out, or a homicidal idiot who took a lucky guess.  She prayed it was the former as she reached the door and slammed her fist down on the button to close it and lock it, once she was inside.

            She could hear on the outside, the Sith talking, just barely, and she swore she heard someone say, "she's as good as dead anyway," right before she turned around and was met with two glowing yellow eyes.

            Reth Slayner sat silently and in solitude in what the apprentices had named "the Throne Room."  He looked out the huge window before him and into the vastness of space.

            There was an odd disturbance in the Force.

            It was nothing dark or malevolent, but more pure and subtle, almost childlike.  He frowned and ran his thumb and finger down his chin.

            Some powerful Jedi was making a connection with another Jedi.  A connection that should be impossible to make.

            He motioned towards a datapad that was sitting beside the large holoscreen and computer system.

            He had heard the stories of these powerful Jedi.  For every generation one would rise and take the mantle.  Since the rise of the Empire, no Jedi had claimed the mantle though, but maybe, just maybe, this powerful young Jedi would.

            _And when they do,_ Slayner thought, opened the datapad, _I will have to make sure that they embrace the dark side, or there will be no hope for the Sith Empire._

            Lane was pretty sure that what she had just done wasn't something that she would be able to live down anytime soon.  Actually, she was pretty sure that she would be sixteen before anyone even _began_ to forgive her.  After all, it was a pretty stupid reason to be running away.  She could just explain to her parents that she was going to Coruscant to check out the Jedi archives there, but then of course they would want to send someone with her.

            She had always felt a strong connection with other Jedi, but not like what she was suddenly experiencing.  It was like, just by looking at another Jedi she could hear their thoughts burying themselves into her mind, and it _hurt_.  She had to find out what was going on with her, but she was a reserved, quiet person, and the last thing she wanted or needed was the Jedi Council probing her brain.  So she was on a mission to Coruscant.

            In Valin Horn's X-wing-it had been the first ship she could see.  On the screen in front of her, Valin's astromech droid, Chopper, protested her actions.

            "I'll return it as soon as I can," she insisted, but Chopper wasn't buying it, or shutting up.

            Yup, there was no forgiveness for Lane Fel.

            Review please, I'll try to make the next update faster!  And since I hate HATE editing, I'm going to hope that I didn't make any grammar mistakes (yeah right!).


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Star Wars: Rise of the Sith

Chapter 8

* * *

The part with Tahiri is just so you know where she's at in life.

Tahiri Veila woke up to her beeping alarm comlink and moaned. Waking up was not something that she wanted to do. She stared at the beeping com for a moment before she felt the form next to her being to stir. Knowing that he had been flying straight for the past three days, she didn't want to wake him up.

Tahiri got up and pushed her blond hair out of her face, picked up the com, and headed out of the room, out onto the balcony.

"Veila here," she yawned into the com.

"Good morning Tahiri, sunshine in my sky," Tahiri rolled her eyes and the voice of Garik "Face" Loran.

"I'm going back to bed now," she informed him.

"Wait, wait," he laughed, "We have a meeting."

"Oh really, just like the last meeting we were having?"

"Hey, that whole Ewok council deal was all Janson's idea," he said defensively.

"Yeah, whatever," she said with a smile. She felt someone at her back, and leaned against him as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Jaina Solo's calling it and requested you be here," Face explained, "which means you come or Her Ex-Goddessness with drag you there."

"Got it Face," Tahiri replied, "I'm off station right now though, so it'll take me a few hours."

"Yeah, right, it takes fifteen minutes to get here from the atmospheric line, so you be here in…oh, I'll give you an hour, just because I'm nice. And Jak, if she's a minute late I'll sic Han Solo on you."

Jak jumped back from Tahiri so fast that she almost fell backwards.

"Bye Face," she said, and cut the connection. She turned around, smiling, to she Jak Ryker, her longtime friend and, the current "king of Tahiridom" as Jacen had onetime joked. For Tahiri though, he was the only "king" that "Tahiridom" would ever have need for.

"Jumpy aren't you," she teased. He smiled and stepped over to her.

"You would be too, if people kept threatening to sic Han Solo on you," he replied with a smile. He a black hair that was cut short, but not short enough so that she couldn't run her fingers through it. His deep mahogany eyes sparkled as he looked at her, and it made her heart skip a beat.

She had always known that after Anakin Solo there would be other men she was attracted to in her life, but everyone of them she had compared to Anakin. With Jak she hadn't. She had fallen in love with him, not the traits that made him like, or unlike, her first boyfriend.

_It's probably because you were such an ace-pilot jerk when we first met_, she thought, and allowed him to kiss her. She kissed him back, with intensity and passion that had never been for any other man. And never would be. She was so completely, and totally in love with Jak Ryker, that it made her entire body tingle and her heart race every time they touched.

She pushed herself up against him, deciding that an hour was enough time to make love, get dressed, and get to the space station. But to her surprise, he pulled away from her.

"Umm…." Was all he said.

"You okay?" She asked him, thoroughly confused. Jak was a great man, but he _was_ a man, and a Corellian one at that, and he would never pass up a chance to have sex.

"I gotta ask you something…um…tell you something…um…" Tahiri raised an eyebrow. Jak was never like this. He was the epitome of a cocky, hotshot pilot, and never once, since she had known him had he missed a beat or seemed nervous.

"You're not going to die or anything are you?" She asked him. He looked quite taken aback by that, but shook his head quickly.

"I love you, Tahiri," he told her. She tried to smile, but found that she couldn't, being so unsure and scared of what he was going to say. "And I want to be with you forever." He tilted her head to look at him and they leaned their foreheads together, and Tahiri suddenly knew what he was doing.

"I want to marry you," he told her. She couldn't stop her smile from spreading across her face. It was so like him. Never scared to say what he wanted.

She kissed him hard and fully, knocking him forcefully against the wall behind him.

"I'll take that as a yes," he replied.

"I can be late for the meeting," she said in a gasp between kissing him, "if you need me to explain it further."

"That's very tempting," he replied.

"Well, I'd like to think so," she laughed, and then pulled back from him, growing serious, "So you really want to marry me? Even with the whole Yuuzhan Von-"

"Will you let the Yuuzhan Vong thing go? I mean, I'm starting to feel jealous that you're a raging psycho path and I'm not," he said jokingly. She smiled again at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you," she told him before kissing him again. This time he let his hands slide down her back to her hips, and pulled her towards him.

"So, do you still want me to be on time for that meeting?" She whispered in his ear as he kissed her neck.

"Ahn-uh," his voice was muffled, but she knew that it was a negative.

* * *

Nike stared into the glowing yellow eyes, and felt her life flash before her own. She wasn't an expert on animals, but she was pretty sure that when there was a creature with glowing yellow eyes that was considerably larger then you, that could probably see in the dark and you couldn't, that even if you could get to your blaster and fire a shot, one shot wasn't going to take this thing down, and that you were officially "the living dead."

The creature, whatever it was, lunged forward at her, and she quickly dropped to the ground and rolled herself forward. She heard the thing hit the door that she had just been standing against as she pushed herself to her feet. She tried to run, but found herself slammed against a wall instead. In the dark she had no idea where she was going!

The creature was obviously having no problem though, because he easily picked her up and threw her across the room. She hit the wall on the other side of the room, and then fell onto her stomach. She moaned and rolled over, hating that stupid creature.

She suddenly felt the creature stick it's nose in her hair, and being to stiff it. She struggled to get up, but was pushed back down by a hairy paw with long claws that were set carefully around her, so not to hurt her.

And then she was hit in the face by a big, thick, wet, tongue.

She would have been less shocked if that had been Soontir Fel licking her. Which wasn't something that she ever wanted to imagine again.

She jumped back, and the creature let her go. Her first thought was that it was just testing her taste out. The creature stuffed its nose into her hands and she shoved it back.

"Get your fat nose out of my face," she snapped. The creature snorted and shook its head. It then let out a loud bellow, and suddenly all the lights began flickering violently on and off, and until with a loud screech, they stayed on.

Now Nike saw it completely. The creature was covered in thick fur, with four legs and paws, pointed ears, a long snout with two long fangs hanging out of it's mouth, and one long, whip like tail.

And it was no smaller than an X-Wing.

"By the Force," Nike breathed, chocking on her own words. She had never seen a creature like this. It took a step towards her, and she backed up to the wall, her mind scrambling for a way to escape. The creature put it's nose against her face, took a deep sniff, and opened it's mouth.

Nike closed her eyes, and braced herself for pain, waiting for the creature to bite into her, and praying that it would be over quickly.

* * *

Moria decided very quickly that it was very unfair that boys were naturally built stronger then girls, and the speed difference between sixteen and seventeen year old boys, and a twelve year old girl, are great.

They were running underground, on ice, which she guessed was not the smartest thing they could get around, but it worked, and no one had slipped yet. Dame was leading them, followed closely by Ben and Sylor, and Moria was a good ten yards behind them.

"We're here," Dame said as he slid to a stop. "The room is right above here." He took out his lightsaber, and it _snap-hissed_ as the red glow emerged from it. Without another word he began cutting the ice ceiling. The others quickly joined in with him.

Flashes of purple, red, green, and blue, along with melting ice shards filled the corridor. Once there was a hole big enough to fit through, Damian leapt through it, followed closely by the others.

They found themselves in an empty cell.

"Well where is he?" Moria demanded.

"I thought he was in here," Damian replied just as sharply.

"Calm down," Sylor ordered, using the Force to cool their heating tempers, "we are Jedi now, so let's just feel for him through the Force."

"Smart thinking, Hall," Ben nodded.

"Yeah well, I can't get by on only my handsome looks," he replied, winking at Moria, who blushed uncontrollably.

"Alright you old smoothie," Damian said, rolling his eyes, "so let's feel for him."

The four closed their eyes and felt with the Force. At first Moria could only feel the strong presences of the boys around her, then as she branched out she could suddenly feel a dark and frightening coldness, which radiated off all of the Sith. She looked past them, and found Nike, burning like fire, like some Forceless people did. Her cousin was frustrated, but besides that Moria couldn't feel tell much about her. Beyond Nike Moria felt some kind of familiarity. Not Anakin, but someone…

Moria's eyes flew open and she gasped loudly, jolting the boys from their thoughts.

"What is it?" Be asked worriedly.

"I-I think I…Corran and Kyp are here," she told them.

"What?" Sylor asked.

"Where?" Ben demanded.

"Who?" Damian questioned.

"They can't be," Ben said.

"Well they are," Moria snapped back, "I felt them."

"Who are you talking about?" Damian asked again.

"Something must be wrong with your senses," Ben replied, "because I didn't feel them."

"Feel _who_?"

"Well where do you get off being so high and mighty?" She snapped, pushing him back, "just because I can sense a presence you can't makes it not real? Is that it?"

"Hey, just calm down," Sylor said, stepping in between the two.

"I'm the stronger one," Ben snapped back, "If I don't feel something, then there's no way you could."

"That's not true!" Moria cried.

"Someone's going to hear you guys," Sylor reasoned.

"Will someone just tell me what's going on?" Damian asked. Moria huffed at her brother and spun on her heal to face Damian.

"Master Corran Horn is one of the best Jedi Masters in the galaxy," Moria informed him.

"So is Master Kyp," Sylor pointed out.

"Sure he is," she rolled her eyes.

"She only doesn't like Kyp because Mom doesn't," Ben explained to Damian. "He's not my favorite guy in the world, but he's still a great Jedi."

"Whatever," Moria said, "that doesn't change the fact that they're here."

"What would a couple of old guys be doing here?" Sylor asked.

"They're not _that_ old," Ben said.

"Possibly the same thing we're doing," Damian said.

"Looking for Anakin?" Sylor asked.

"No, dope," Moria replied sharply, "they're checking out the cloning."

"Oh," Sylor said, "that makes sense."

"Alright, one second," Ben said, "let's just say, for Moria's sake, that Corran and Kyp are indeed here, maybe we should communicate with them and see where they're at so we can join up."

"That's the smartest thing I've heard you say all-" Moria's sentence was cut short by a sudden pain in her head. The pain that came just before she Saw something. She grabbed her head with both hands, and screamed from the unbearable pain as images flashed through her mind.

A prison. Strange contraption. People chained to walls by organic materials. A long dark hall. Sith guards. Black doors. Corridor after corridor. A line of doors. The room they were in.

Moria grabbed the oxygen back into her lungs with struggled coughs. She opened her eyes to see three faces huddled in front of her, and three sets of extra large, worried eyes.

"Sith spit Moria I thought you were dead!" Ben cried, grabbing her into his arms.

"I know where they are!" She wheezed out.

"What?" Ben asked. "You almost died and you're talking about Corran and Kyp?"

"I know where they are," she persisted.

"Um…okay…" Ben said.

"They're in the prison chambers."

"Prison chambers?" Sylor asked. "This place has prison chambers?"

"Of course," Damian shrugged.

"Well how do we get there?" Ben asked him.

"I don't know," Damian shrugged, "I never had to go there."

"Well fat lot of good you are," Sylor snapped.

"I do!" Moria declared happily.

"You do what?" Sylor asked.

"Know how to get there."

"How?" He asked, skeptical.

"What does it matter if I know?" She asked. "We'll go get Kyp and Corran and Ben and Dame go get Anakin."

"Now wait," Ben said, "who put you in charge?"

"No one's in charge you over competitive bantha fodder, just get to it before the Sith come in here and kill us all," she snapped.

"When we're done we'll meet back out at the cave entrance," Damian said.

"Got it," Ben and Moria said together.

"What about Nike?" Sylor asked.

"We'll get her on our way out," Damian assured him. "Now let's go."

"Wait," Moria said, "do you even know where Anakin is?"

"While you were off playing mind finders with Corran and Kyp, we were sticking to the original plan," Ben rubbed in her face. Moria didn't answer, but stuck her tongue out at her brother as she left the room.

* * *

Nike sighed as she plopped herself down into a padded wheeled chair that sat in front of eight computer screens of varying sizes.

"Finally," she heaved, "it took us long enough to find this place." The creature blinked at her and sat. It had turned out that not only did the animal have no intention of eating her it also was very intelligent. Intelligent to the point where it could speak. Telepathically of course, but speak nonetheless. It was called Rhonka and was from the planet Zorn, which Nike guessed was probably in the Unknown Regions.

"You humans are the laziest most impatient beings I have met," Rhonka informed her.

"Yeah well, you haven't met a Hutt yet," she muttered back as she began to press buttons and turn knobs, trying to get the ancient machines to work.

"What are you trying to do?" Rhonka pushed his face over her shoulder to get a better look at the screen. "You can read this?" He asked.

"No," she answered, "the screens off."

"Oh."

"There," she flipped on a rusted switch and the screens and pads came to life.

"So what are we doing?"

"Finding friendlies," she explained, "someone we know is bound to be around here somewhere. We contact them, and they get us off this snow globe."

"And what if you can't reach any 'friendlies?'" He asked.

"We'll find someone."

"Does that mean you don't have a back-up plan?"

"Exactly."

Nike watched the screen as hundreds of numbers ran by. They were registration numbers being scanned off all spacecrafts in the system. On a screen next to her pictures of the ship models.

"Looking for someone in particular or are you always this picky?" Rhonka asked.

"Will you-oh my…YES!"

"I take it you found someone."

"Not just someone, the BEST someone I could ever get!" Nike jumped up, smiling broadly at her success.

"Well where is he?"

"Just inside the system, headed this way actually, I better set up a com system…" Nike got to work quickly, attaching cables and setting up a headset as Rhonka watched in curiosity at this two-legger's strange ways.

Nike set up a private line, and began to connect to the ship.

"Um….Hello?" She asked into the com she held in her hand, realizing while she spoke that she wasn't sure what to say.

"Hello, can anyone copy?" For a moment there was no answer, and she began to think it wasn't working, when all of a sudden there was burst of loud static, then a voice, forthright and clear filtered through.

"Who is this?" The voice-a young woman's- demanded.  
"This is Nike Solo," Nike snapped back sharply, "And I want to talk to Karrde, do put him on."

"Solo?" The woman laughed, "How in all Corellia's hells did you end up in the Hoth system?" Suddenly Nike recognized the voice as not that of woman, but that of a girl little more then a year older then she was herself.

"Antilles?" Nike asked, shocked to find the rebellious, smoking, cursing, teenage Rayla Antilles, the daughter of Wedge and Iella Antilles, aboard the _Wild Karrde_.

"That's my name, so Solo, what kind of fodder have you gotten yourself into this time?" If the saying "there's one in every family" was to be applied to the Antilles Family, then the arrow would point right to Rayla. She had run away a few standard months before Nike's escapade to the Death Star and her meeting with Damian.

No one had been able to find Rayla, but seeing who her parents were, there wasn't a whole lot of surprise there. Rayla got in more trouble in a week then Nike did in two, and she didn't even seem to care. Rayla did everything in her power to oppose her parents, and Nike wasn't sure why, but she always had wished that she had Rayla's nerve.

"You're working for Karrde?" Was all Nike could think to say.

"No, I'm working for the Queen Mother of Hapes, but on Karrde's ship," Rayla said sarcastically, "what do you think, Solo?"

"My bad," Nike muttered, "anyway, yeah, I'm in fodder up to my knees."

"Ew."

"Yeah. Exactly. So can I talk to Karrde or what?"

"HEY KARRDE!" Rayla hollered, not even bothering to take her com away from her mouth and practically blowing Nike's eardrums up.

"Rayla Antilles this is not a playground!" Nike smiled, hearing Karrde in the background, "this is a civilized ship and I will not tolerate you yelling across it."

"Yeah, okay, sure, com's for you," Rayla replied dryly. "It's Solo."

"Well thank you for narrowing it down there."

"Nike."

"Ah." If Karrde was at all surprised that it was Nike on the link, he didn't show it, he just picked up the com and asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Hello Karrde," Nike said conversationally, "how are you?"

"I'm fine. But why are my sensor's picking your com frequency from Hoth?"

"Well, it's kinda funny actually. I'm kinda stuck here."

"That is quite funny. Of course unless you count the number of Sith ships in this area."

"Yeah well, I was wondering if you could swing around and give me a lift back home," Nike said.

"You're expecting me to just drop everything I'm doing and just come and pick you up."

"Me and my friends, yes I am," Nike said, "but since you just dropped off a load, and are heading back to Corellia to pick up some more supplies from Booster Terrik, so I can't see why you can't just bring me along."

She could tell that she'd stumped him by her knowledge of what he was doing, and it took him only a moment to reply.

"You know kid, one of these days I need to consider hiring you."

"Yes you do."

"Give me seven hours."

"You got it."

* * *

Ben and Damian ran after Anakin and the Sith, being led only by the Force as to where they had taken him. There were droids all over the place, and so the boys had had to leave their normal clothes for Sith uniforms found in a young, and now unconscious, Sith's quarters. Only once had they had to pass actual beings on their run, a Rodian and a Twi'lek, both probably in their early teens and too unattuned to Ben and Damian to tell any difference.

"This Anakin guy better be worth all this trouble," Damian muttered. "I about peed my pants when those droids asked for our ID."

"Yeah well, you didn't have to dice them to dust," Ben pointed out, "once someone finds that they'll put this place under a lockdown, and then not only you and me will be screwed, but Moria and Sylor will be as well.

"And Nike, Force only knows what she's up to," Damian replied.

"Probably hatching a plan to get us off this hunk of ice," Ben answered.

"Is she capable of that?" The other asked doubtingly.

"We used to have two sayings about Nike. One, she could talk a Hutt into loosing weight. And two, give her a day in the Unknown Regions and she'd have enough 'connections' in an hour to start a trading business and become the richest being in the galaxy by midnight," Ben replied, "she'll get us off this rock."

"Those are weird sayings."

"Yeah, well, you should hear the ones we made up for Sylor."

They slowed as they turned a corner and found themselves in a dead end, with one door.

"Well," Damian said, "guess this is our stop." Ben nodded and felt the door, with his hand and with the Force, and listened inside the room.

Anakin was in there, in incredible pain, lying on the floor.

"Well, let's get this over with," Damian said, and the two ignited their lightsabers.

* * *

They had bloodied him up pretty bad before dumping him on the floor, and Anakin guess that those chemicals they were mixing up for him over there weren't to heal his wounds.

The words that the Sith were saying weren't making any sense, but Anakin guessed that was because of the melon sized lump on his head.

Suddenly the two Sith looked up, and two strong Force presences entered the room. He heard the hum of lightsabers and saw the red and green flashes. The Sith didn't stand any sort of chance, and a moment later, a blurry face was peering into his own. The blob's mouth moved, but the words were incomprehensible.

"Wha…?" He murmured, trying to make words.

_Are you okay?_ The voice asked in his mind. He tried to nod, but was too tired, and so tried and answer instead.

_Yeah…Who…_

_I'm Ben Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you._

* * *

FINALLY!!! I know it's shorter and took months to get up, but whatever, here it is. Please review.


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